Escherichia coli ST131, an Intriguing Clonal Group

Abstract

SUMMARY In 2008, a previously unknown Escherichia coli clonal group, sequence type 131 (ST131), was identified on three continents. Today, ST131 is the predominant E. coli lineage among extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) isolates worldwide. Retrospective studies have suggested that it may originally have risen to prominence as early as 2003. Unlike other classical group B2 ExPEC isolates, ST131 isolates are commonly reported to produce extended-spectrum β-lactamases, such as CTX-M-15, and almost all are resistant to fluoroquinolones. Moreover, ST131 E. coli isolates are considered to be truly pathogenic, due to the spectrum of infections they cause in both community and hospital settings and the large number of virulence-associated genes they contain. ST131 isolates therefore seem to contradict the widely held view that high levels of antimicrobial resistance are necessarily associated with a fitness cost leading to a decrease in pathogenesis. Six years after the first description of E. coli ST131, this review outlines the principal traits of ST131 clonal group isolates, based on the growing body of published data, and highlights what is currently known and what we need to find out to provide public health authorities with better information to help combat ST131.

High prevalence of Escherichia coli sequence type 131 among antimicrobial-resistant E. coli isolates from geriatric patients

“…Here, only three of the eight H30-Rx isolates were ESBL-producers. Unlike previous reports (Peirano et al, 2014; Petty et al, 2014; Price (Ho et al, 2012;Nicolas-Chanoine et al, 2014). In Japan, CTX-M-14 was detected in 44 and 73 % of ESBL-producing ST131-O25b and ST131-O16 isolates, respectively, compared with 18 and 8 % for CTX-M-15, respectively (Matsumura et al, 2012).…”

“…ST131 can be divided into different subclones by other typing methods, of which sequencing the type 1 fimbrial adhesin gene fimH is one widely used approach (Weissman et al, 2012). H30, designated according to the fimH30 variant, is currently the most prevalent subclone of ST131 (Nicolas-Chanoine et al, 2014). Two studies involving whole genome sequencing of ST131 isolates collected from multiple countries came to the same conclusion that fluoroquinolone resistance within ST131 was confined almost entirely to the H30 subclone and that CTX-M-15 producers clustered within a nested subclone, designated H30-Rx (Petty et al, 2014;Price et al, 2013 and 16.9 to 66.2 %, respectively, depending on the isolate sources and selection criteria (Banerjee et al, 2013b;Price et al, 2013).…”

Systematic longitudinal survey of invasive Escherichia coli in England demonstrates a stable population structure only transiently disturbed by the emergence of ST131

“…ST131 has received particular attention, following its apparent emergence in the 2000s, due to its rapid global dissemination and frequent multidrug-resistant (MDR) phenotype (Nicolas-Chanoine et al 2014). This has led to ST131 being well characterized by publications that propose biological explanations for its emergence and spread (Price et al 2013;Petty et al 2014;Salipante et al 2015;Ben Zakour et al 2016;Stoesser et al 2016).…”

La phagothérapie

“…C'est par exemple le cas des souches d'E. coli pathogènes et multi-résistantes appartenant au groupe ST131-O25b [40]. Un phage ciblant spécifique-ment ces souches existe actuellement [41].…”