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J Med Microbiol 57 (2008), 476-479; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.47495-0
© 2008 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 1473-5644

Seroprevalence of the enteroaggregative Escherichia coli virulence factor dispersin among USA travellers to Cuernavaca, Mexico: a pilot study

David B. Huang1,{dagger}, Eric L. Brown2, Herbert L. DuPont1,3, Jing Cerf1, Lily Carlin4, Jose Flores4, Jaime Belkind-Gerson4, James P. Nataro5 and Pablo C. Okhuysen1,4

1 Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030, USA

2 University of Texas at Houston School of Public Health, 1200 Herman Pressler, Houston, TX 77030, USA

3 St Luke's Episcopal Hospital, 6720 Bertner Avenue, Houston, TX 77030, USA

4 University of Texas at Houston Medical School, 6431 Fannin, Houston, TX 77030, USA

5 Center for Vaccine Development, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 655 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA

Correspondence
David B. Huang
dhuang82{at}hotmail.com

Received 3 July 2007
Accepted 7 December 2007

This pilot study examined the change in the seroprevalence of the enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) virulence factor dispersin in USA students during a short stay in Cuernavaca, Mexico, between June and August 2004. One hundred and ninety-five students provided paired serum samples – one on arrival to Mexico (pre-serum) and a second on departure from Mexico (post-serum) after a mean stay of 19 days. Serum samples were tested for IgG antibody to a recombinant purified dispersin protein by ELISA. For all travellers, with and without diarrhoea, the mean±SD pre-serum absorbance value (read at 450 and 570 nm) was 0.340±0.212 and the mean post-serum value was 0.513±0.316 (P<0.00001). Both travellers who developed diarrhoea and those who did not develop diarrhoea had an increase in IgG antibody to dispersin from the time of arrival to the time of departure from Cuernavaca (diarrhoea group 0.323±0.197 to 0.501±0.311, P<0.00001, and the asymptomatic group 0.354±0.224 to 0.525±0.321, P<0.00001). The pre-serum absorbance value (read at 450 and 570 nm) for IgG antibody to dispersin was not associated with protection against the development of diarrhoeal illness. These results indicate that USA travellers to Mexico show seroconversion for the EAEC virulence factor dispersin. Further studies are needed to characterize in more detail the host clinical and immunological responses to the dispersin protein.

Abbreviations: AP, alkaline phosphatase; EAEC, enteroaggregative Escherichia coli; ETEC, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

{dagger}Present address: Department of Virology, 900 Ridgebury Road, G4, Ridgefield, CT 06877, USA.






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