Ribotyping of EPEC isolates from diarrheal and asymptomatic patients in Iran

We intended to find out the diversity of EPEC isolates among asymptomatic or diarrheal children in Iran using ribotyping. Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is responsible for gastroenteritis especially in young children. A total of 39 EPEC collected strains were serotyped and the presence of virulence genes as well as EAF plasmid among the strains was studied. Adherence assay was also performed. Clonal diversity of the isolates was investigated using ribotyping. Of 39 studied strains of E. coli, 6 serogroups of EPEC were represented. The presence of the stx gene was ascertained in 7 isolates and the eaeA, eaeB and bfpA genes were harbored by 5, 3 and 1 strains, respectively. Ribotyping yielded 9 different clusters. According to our results there was not a significant correlation between the results of serotyping and those of ribotyping. However, different serotypes of E. coli may belong to the same ribotype clusters and vice versa.