TY - JOUR AU - Browne, A. Springer AU - Biggs, Patrick AU - Wilkinson, David AU - Cookson, Adrian AU - Midwinter, Anne AU - Bloomfield, Samuel AU - Hranac, C. Reed AU - Rogers, Lynn AU - Marshall, Jonathan AU - Benschop, Jackie AU - Withers, Helen AU - Hathaway, Steve AU - George, Tessy AU - Jaros, Patricia AU - Irshad, Hamid AU - Fong, Yang AU - Dufour, Muriel AU - Karki, Naveena AU - Winkleman, Taylor AU - French, Nigel T1 - Use of Genomics to Investigate Historical Importation of Shiga Toxin–Producing Escherichia coli Serogroup O26 and Nontoxigenic Variants into New Zealand T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2019 VL - 25 IS - 3 SP - 489 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli serogroup O26 is an important public health pathogen. Phylogenetic bacterial lineages in a country can be associated with the level and timing of international imports of live cattle, the main reservoir. We sequenced the genomes of 152 E. coli O26 isolates from New Zealand and compared them with 252 E. coli O26 genomes from 14 other countries. Gene variation among isolates from humans, animals, and food was strongly associated with country of origin and stx toxin profile but not isolation source. Time of origin estimates indicate serogroup O26 sequence type 21 was introduced at least 3 times into New Zealand from the 1920s to the 1980s, whereas nonvirulent O26 sequence type 29 strains were introduced during the early 2000s. New Zealand’s remarkably fewer introductions of Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli O26 compared with other countries (such as Japan) might be related to patterns of trade in live cattle. KW - Shiga-toxin–producing Escherichia coli KW - whole-genome sequencing KW - STEC KW - genetic evolution KW - cattle KW - zoonoses KW - bacteria KW - New Zealand KW - Japan KW - Escherichia coli KW - serogroup O26 KW - enteric infections DO - 10.3201/eid2503.180899 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/25/3/18-0899_article ER - End of Reference