Identification

Identification of suspected Escherichia coli

• Gastroenteritis
• Septicaemia
• Bacteraemia
• Neonatal meningitis

 Isolate from urine, stool, blood, environmental, food, other.

Isolate provided on appropriate culture medium for E. coli.

Send as growth on appropriate culture medium or in appropriate transport medium.  Culture vessel should be leak-proof or sealed appropriately.

Shipping of specimens shall be done by a TDG certified individual in accordance with TDG regulations. For additional information regarding classification of specimens for the purposes of shipping, consult either Part 2 Appendix 3 of the TDG Regulations or section 3.6.2 of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations as applicable.

Gastroenteritis, septicemia, infection, other.

Completed Division of Enteric Diseases requisition form.

N/A

In silico serotype prediction (ECTyper)*(primary)(1)

Phenotypic Identification (biotyping)*(2)

16S rRNA gene sequencing(3)

 MALDI-TOF(4)

Note: All isolates identified as E. coli will be referred for whole genome sequencing and in silico serotype prediction. If traditional serotyping is required, please ensure that this test is specified on the Division of Enteric Diseases requisition form.

1. In silico serotype prediction: as per Bessonov K, Laing C, Robertson J, Yong I, Ziebell K, Gannon VPJ, Nichani A, Arya G, Nash JHE, Christianson S. ECTyper: in silico Escherichia coli serotype and species prediction from raw and assembled whole-genome sequence data. Microb Genom. 2021 Dec;7(12):000728. doi: 10.1099/mgen.0.000728. PMID: 34860150; PMCID: PMC8767331.
2. Biotyping: as per Murray, P.R., Baron, E.J., Jorgensen, J.H., Pfaller, M.A., Yolken, R.H., Manual of Clinical Microbiology. 2003. ASM Press. Washington, DC. USA
3. Sequences compared to the 16s rDNA database in NCBI and clustered using BioNumerics.
4. MALDI-TOF results analysed using the most current Bruker Biotyper database.

21 calendar days.  Note: Turnaround times for routine isolates may be extended during major foodborne outbreak activities or due to limited availability of resources

Pathogen Safety Data Sheets: Infectious Substances – Escherichia coli, enterohemorrhagic

Pathogen Safety Data Sheets: Infectious Substances – Escherichia coli, enteroinvasive

Pathogen Safety Data Sheets: Infectious Substances – Escherichia coli, enteropathogenic

Pathogen Safety Data Sheets: Infectious Substances – Escherichia coli, enterotoxigenic

For health professionals: E. coli (Escherichia coli) infection

National case definition: Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli infection

E. coli (Escherichia coli) infection

National Enteric Surveillance Program (NESP)