1887

Abstract

Consistent pathological findings in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) are seen which display similarities to the pathogenesis of toxaemic shock and/or sepsis. A key candidate infectious agent that is possibly involved is , given its universal early colonization of the intestinal tract of infants and an increased frequency of toxigenic and mouse-lethal isolates from SIDS compared with comparison infants. An explanation for these findings has yet to be identified. Using PCR, we screened isolates from 145 SIDS and 101 dead control and healthy infants for three new candidate pathogenicity-related genes: (cytolysin A), [high-pathogenicity island (HPI)-specific gene] and (cytolethal distending toxin). The results failed to show a positive correlation with SIDS, instead proving that and genes were common to the infant intestinal . Interestingly we observed a high rate of carriage of these two potentially pathogenic genes in from healthy infants in the absence of diarrhoeal disease, and we report that in a number of cases, the detection of HPI-specific genes was predictable by serotype. Despite the lack of associations defined so far, there remains the likelihood that genetic determinants influence the interactions between and the host, so these factors may be part of the multi-factorial aspect of SIDS.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.005322-0
2009-03-01
2024-11-08
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/jmm/58/3/285.html?itemId=/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.005322-0&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Bettelheim K. A., Lennox-King S. M. 1976; The acquisition of Escherichia coli by new-born babies. Infection 4:174–179 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Bettelheim K. A., Dwyer B. W., Smith D. L., Goldwater P. N., Bourne A. J. 1989; Toxigenic Escherichia coli associated with sudden infant death syndrome. Med J Aust 151:538
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Bettelheim K. A., Goldwater P. N., Dwyer B. W., Bourne A. J., Smith D. L. 1990; Toxigenic Escherichia coli associated with sudden infant death syndrome. Scand J Infect Dis 22:467–476 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Bettelheim K. A., Pearce J., Evangelidis H., Goldwater P. 1992a; A mouse model for sudden infant death syndrome. Paper presented at the 2nd SIDS Family International Conference Sydney, Australia:
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Bettelheim K. A., Goldwater P. N., Evangelidis H., Pearce J. L., Smith D. L. 1992b; Distribution of toxigenic Escherichia coli serotypes in the intestines of infants. Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis 15:65–70 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Bettelheim K. A., Evangelidis H., Pearce J. L., Goldwater P. N., Luke R. K. J. 1993; The isolation of cytotoxic necrotizing factor (CNF)-producing Escherichia coli from the intestinal contents of babies who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other causes as well as from the faeces of healthy babies. Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis 16:87–90
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Bettelheim K. A., Chang B. J., Elliott S. J., Gunzburg S. T., Pearce J. L. 1995; Virulence factors associated with strains of Escherichia coli from cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS. Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis 18:179–188 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Bettiol S. S., Radcliff F. J., Hunt A. L., Goldsmid J. M. 1994; Bacterial flora of Tasmanian SIDS infants with special reference to pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli . Epidemiol Infect 112:275–284 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Bielaszewska M., Fell M., Greune L., Prager R., Fruth A., Tschape H., Schmidt A., Karch H. 2004; Characterisation of cytolethal distending toxin genes and expression in shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli strains of non-O157 serogroups. Infect Immun 72:1812–1816 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Blackwell C. C., Moscovis S. M., Gordon A. E., Al Madani O. M., Hall S. T., Gleeson M., Scott R. J., Roberts-Thomson J., Weir D. M., Busuttil A. 2005; Cytokine responses and sudden infant death syndrome: genetic, developmental, and environmental risk factors. J Leukoc Biol 78:1242–1254 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Blood-Siegfried J., Rambaud C., Nyska A., Germolec D. R. 2008; Evidence for infection, inflammation and shock in sudden infant death: parallels between a neonatal rat model of sudden death and infants who died of sudden infant death syndrome. Innate Immun 14:145–152 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Elwell C., Chao K., Patel K., Dreyfus L. 2001; Escherichia coli CdtB mediates cytolethal distending toxin cell cycle arrest. Infect Immun 69:3418–3422 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Gilbert R., Rudd P., Berry P., Fleming P., Hall E., White D., Oreffo V., James P., Evans J. 1992; Combined effect of infection and heavy wrapping on the risk of sudden unexpected infant death. Arch Dis Child 67:171–177 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Goldwater P. N. 2008; Sterile site infection at autopsy in sudden unexpected deaths in infancy. Arch Dis Child Sep 15 [Epub ahead of print]
  15. Highet A. R. 2008; An infectious aetiology of sudden infant death syndrome. J Appl Microbiol 105:625–635 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Jakeman K. J., Rushton D. I., Smith H., Sweet C. 1991; Exacerbation of bacterial toxicity to infant ferrets by influenza virus: possible role in sudden infant death syndrome. J Infect Dis 163:35–40 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Karch H., Meyer T., Russmann H., Heesemann J. 1992; Frequent loss of Shiga-like toxin genes in clinical isolates of Escherichia coli upon subcultivation. Infect Immun 60:3464–3467
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Karch H., Schubert S., Zhang D., Zhang W., Schmidt H., Olschläger T., Hacker J. 1999; A genomic island, termed high-pathogenicity island, is present in certain non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli clonal lineages. Infect Immun 67:5994–6001
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Ludwig A., von Rhein C., Bauer S., Hüttinger C., Goebel W. 2004; Molecular analysis of cytolysin A (ClyA) in pathogenic Escherichia coli strains. J Bacteriol 186:5311–5320 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Sayers N. M., Drucker D. B., Telford D. R., Morris J. A. 1995; Effects of nicotine on bacterial toxins associated with cot death. Arch Dis Child 73:549–551 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Schubert S., Rakin A., Karch H., Carniel E., Heesemann J. 1998; Prevalence of the “high-pathogenicity island” of Yersinia species among Escherichia coli strains that are pathogenic to humans. Infect Immun 66:480–485
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Toth I., Herault F., Beutin L., Oswald E. 2003; Production of cytolethal distending toxins by pathogenic Escherichia coli strains isolated from human and animal sources: establishment of the existence of a new cdt variant (type IV. J Clin Microbiol 41:4285–4291 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Weber M. A., Klein N. J., Hartley J. C., Lock P. E., Malone M., Sebire N. J. 2008; Infection and sudden unexpected death in infancy: a systematic retrospective case review. Lancet 371:1848–1853 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Willinger M., James L. S., Catz C. 1991; Defining the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS): deliberations of an expert panel convened by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Pediatr Pathol 11:677–684 [CrossRef]
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.005322-0
Loading
/content/journal/jmm/10.1099/jmm.0.005322-0
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error