Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in Stool Specimens Collected from Patients Attending Primary Healthcare Facilities in Ethiopia: Whole-Genome Sequencing-Based Molecular Characterization

Abstract

The diarrheagenic <i>Escherichia coli</i> (DEC) is the major cause of diarrheal diseases in Africa, including Ethiopia. However, the genetic diversity of <i>E. coli</i> pathotypes found in Ethiopia has not been studied well. This study aimed to characterize potential DEC belonging to enteropathogenic (EPEC), Shiga toxin-producing (STEC), enteroaggregative (EAEC), enterotoxigenic (ETEC), and enteroinvasive (EIEC) <i>E. coli</i> pathotypes from stool specimens of patients attending primary healthcare units (<i>n</i> = 260) in Addis Ababa and Hossana using whole-genome sequencing. Real-time PCR assays were used to identify DEC isolates belonging to EPEC, STEC, EAEC, ETEC, and EIEC pathotypes, which were then subjected to whole-genome sequencing on the Illumina platform. Twenty-four whole-genome nucleotide sequences of DEC strains with good enough quality were analyzed for virulence-associated genes (VAGs), antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), phylogenetic groups, serogroups, and sequence types. The majority (62.5%) of DEC isolates belonged to the phylogenetic group B1. The identified DEC isolates belonged to 21 different serogroups and 17 different sequence types. All tested DEC isolates carried multiple VAGs and ARGs. The findings highlight the high diversity in the population structure of the studied DEC isolates, which is important for designing targeted interventions to reduce the diarrheal burden in Ethiopia.