Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has limited data on enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC). Therefore, this study was undertaken to contribute to EPEC surveillance and investigate the molecular epidemiology of EPEC strains that have been implicated in human infection in King Fahd Hospital of the University (KFHU) between 2013 and 2014 in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: A total of 60 non-duplicate E. coli isolates associated with human gastroenteritis were included in this study. They were characterized using PCR to determine virulence genes, antimicrobial resistance patterns, and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC-PCR). RESULTS: Among the 60 strains, 20% of those examined were positive for the intimin eae and bfpA genes and identified as typical EPEC (tEPEC). Furthermore, 44 of E. coli strains tested positive for the eae gene only and revealed a high occurrence rate of 73.3% of atypical EPEC (aEPEC) within the overall examined strains. All strains were positive for the EAST1 gene, and none tested positive for the stx gene. More than 70% of EPEC strains were multi-drug resistant (MDR) and aEPEC strains with the highest proportion of this feature of MDR. ERIC-PCR fingerprint revealed a total of 19 ERIC types with eight related distinct clusters and a similarity rate cut-off with ≥90% homology from the identified isolates. CONCLUSION: A high antibiotic resistance rate was reported for first-line antibiotics, such as ampicillin, tetracycline, nalidixic acid, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, noroxin, and ciprofloxacin.