Outbreak of enterocolitis caused by an enteroinvasive E. coli (serotype O 164, synonym serotype 147)

An outbreak of severe dysentery-like disease developed in a pensioners' home in autumn 1979, with 30 out of 75 exposed persons becoming involved. The agent was E. coli O 164 (serotype 147) resembling Shigella in some of its properties. Positive cultivations were obtained from 18 patients out of a total of 54 subjects examined. The isolates produced keratoconjunctivitis in guinea-pigs. An unusual feature marking the onset of the illness in about half of the patients was a transient paresis of the lower extremities. The outbreak was suppressed with peroral neomycin. This was the second instance of E. coli O 164 isolation in Czechoslovakia and the first record of its ability to cause an epidemic process.