Open AccessExtraintestinal Escherichia coli isolations from SIDS cases and other cases of sudden death in Victoria, Australia
Author(s) -
Pearce Jane L,
Luke Richard K.J,
Bettelheim Karl A
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
fems immunology & medical microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1574-695X
pISSN - 0928-8244
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-695x.1999.tb01337.x
Subject(s) - serotype , escherichia coli , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , sudden infant death syndrome , sudden death , enterobacteriaceae , medicine , genetics , pediatrics , gene
This investigation is an extension of previous studies on the possible role of intestinal Escherichia coli in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) to include the isolation of extraintestinal E. coli. The lungs of 52 and the blood of 144 SIDS infants were cultured and isolates were investigated. E. coli was isolated from about a quarter of post‐mortem lung samples and about 15% of blood samples from SIDS infants. The isolates were subjected to microbiological studies, including serotyping and haemolysin assays. The majority were found to belong to serogroups commonly associated with bacteraemia. These results may indicate that extraintestinal E. coli plays a role in SIDS.