Effect of prior experimental human enteropathogenic Escherichia coli infection on illness following homologous and heterologous rechallenge

Two studies of adult volunteers were performed to determine whether prior enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) infection confers protective immunity against rechallenge. In the first study, a naive control group and volunteers who had previously ingested an O55:H6 strain were fed an O127:H6 strain. In the second study, a control group and volunteers who had previously ingested either the O127:H6 strain or an isogenic eae deletion mutant of that strain were challenged with the homologous wild-type strain. There was no significant effect of prior infection on the incidence of diarrhea in either study. However, in the homologous-rechallenge study, disease was significantly milder in the group previously challenged with the wild-type strain. Disease severity was inversely correlated with the level of prechallenge serum immunoglobulin G against the O127 lipopolysaccharide. These studies indicate that prior EPEC infection can reduce disease severity upon homologous challenge. Further studies may require the development of new model systems.