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Volume 171, Issue 3

Phylogenetic groups and extraintestinal virulence genes of inflow entering a municipal drinking water treatment facility (St. Paul, MN, USA) Open Access

Abstract

Extraintestinal pathogenic (ExPEC), a leading cause of urinary tract infections, sepsis and neonatal meningitis, circulates between diverse hosts and the environment. Consequently, identifying ExPEC reservoirs and transmission pathways has potentially great public health importance. Here, we used PCR-based methods to characterize 104 isolates from inflow water to the St. Paul, MN (USA), municipal drinking water treatment plant. Isolates were analysed for major phylogenetic groups and multiple extraintestinal virulence genes. Additionally, from the 65 (of 104) water samples that yielded multiple colonies, we screened population DNA for virulence genes. Thirty-three percent of isolates represented virulence-associated groups B2 and D, and 8% (95% CI: 3%, 15%) qualified molecularly as ExPEC. The ExPEC isolates, all from group B2 or D, had a median virulence gene score of 11.0 and collectively contained all but four of the 28 studied extraintestinal virulence genes. Population DNA screening increased the proportion of samples positive for individual virulence genes and, presumptively, for ExPEC [14% (95% CI: 10%, 30%) vs. 8%, =0.03]. These findings identify a previously underappreciated potential mechanism for community-wide dissemination of ExPEC and underscore the importance of consistent disinfection of municipal drinking water.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): drinking water , Escherichia coli , extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) , phylogenetic group , public health and virulence gene
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (Award Merit Review)
    • Principal Award Recipient: JamesR Johnson
© Microbiology Society
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
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2025-03-27
2026-02-18

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/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001542
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Phylogenetic groups and extraintestinal virulence genes of inflow Escherichia coli entering a municipal drinking water treatment facility (St. Paul, MN, USA)
Microbiology 171, 001542 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001542
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001542
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001542
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