Abstract
Aim. The aim of the present study was to investigate the PFGE profiles as the molecular typing technique for Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli owning different genes.
Methods. Shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli belonged to five different serogroups (0157; 0158, 0114, 0124 and 026) isolated from different sources which resulted in 5 macro restriction patterns with Xba1 restriction enzyme. The pathogenicity test conducted for three weeks on rats model challenged with shiga toxin producing strains through intraperitoneal injection.
Results. Approximately 10% of infected patients develop complications such as haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) characterized by acute renal failure, thrombocytopenia and haemolytic anemia. the result indicated marked damages, lesions and necrosis in the examined colon, kidney and liver and in the assayed animals.
Conclusion. The histological investigations clearly reported that the degree of vascular damage and necrosis were greatly (related) dependant on the amounts of toxins produced by the pathogen.