ATTENUATED MUTANT ENTEROPATHOGENIC E. COLI (EPEC) STRAINS, PROCESS FOR THEIR PRODUCTION AND THEIR USE

摘要

The present invention relates to attenuated mammalian enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strains comprising a deletion of an intimin encoding gene sequence wherein said deletion fully eliminates a functional intimin protein, which can be effectively used for the production of a vaccine against enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) infections in mammals. The invention also relates to recombinant vectors to be used in methods for the construction of said to attenuated mammalian enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strains. The invention also relates to a method for in vitro differentiating between field infected and vaccinated individuals wherein said vaccinated individuals have been vaccinated with a vaccine comprising attenuated mammalian enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strains having a deletion of an intimin gene sequence and said field infected individuals are in vitro diagnosed on the basis of the presence of intimin antibodies.