Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and Ulcerative Colitis in Cotton-Top Tamarins (Saguinus oedipus)

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases 2001-09, Vol.184 (6), p.803-807
• Main Authors: Mansfield, Keith G., Lin, Kuei-Chin, Xia, Dongling, Newman, Joseph V., Schauer, David B., MacKey, John, Lackner, Andrew A., Carville, Angela
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adhesins, Bacterial; Animals; Animals, Laboratory; Bacterial diseases; Bacterial diseases of the digestive system and abdomen; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins - genetics; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Biopsies; Carrier Proteins; Colitis; Colitis, Ulcerative - microbiology; Colitis, Ulcerative - pathology; Colitis, Ulcerative - veterinary; Colon - microbiology; Colon - pathology; Concise Communications; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli Infections - complications; Escherichia coli Infections - pathology; Escherichia coli Infections - veterinary; Escherichia coli O157 - classification; Escherichia coli O157 - genetics; Escherichia coli O157 - isolation & purification; Escherichia coli Proteins; Feces - microbiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infections; Infectious diseases; Intestinal Mucosa - microbiology; Intestinal Mucosa - pathology; intimin; Medical sciences; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Monkey Diseases - microbiology; Monkey Diseases - pathology; Pathogenicity, virulence, toxins, bacteriocins, pyrogens, host-bacteria relations, miscellaneous strains; Polymerase chain reaction; Primates; Saguinus; Saguinus oedipus; Sequence Alignment; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Ulcerative colitis
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1086/322990

The cotton-top tamarin (CTT; Saguinus oedipus) is an endangered New World primate that develops a highly prevalent idiopathic colitis resembling human ulcerative colitis. This study found that enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) caused acute colitis in CTTs, which was associated with ulcerative colitis. EPEC clinical isolates revealed localized adherence patterns by HEp-2 assay and were devoid of Shiga-toxin production. Sequencing of the eae gene (GenBank accession no. AF319597) revealed 99.2% identity to sequences of human isolates (GenBank AF116899) and corresponded to the ε intimin gene subtype. Detection of intimin sequences by polymerase chain reaction on primary fecal cultures indicated widespread EPEC infection in the CTT colony. Prospective analysis revealed that animals with fecal cultures positive for intimin sequences had a higher frequency of active colitis (75.0% vs. 27.2%; P