Molecular Characterization of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Isolated from Ruminant and Donkey Raw Milk Samples and Traditional Dairy Products in Iran

The aims of the current study were to detect the virulence factors and antibiotic resistance of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, in animal milk and dairy products in Iran. After E. coli dentification with culture method, PCR assay were developed for detection of pathogenic genes, serotypes and antibiotic resistance genes of E. coli. Results showed that out of 719 samples, 102 (14.18%) were confirmed to be positive for E. coli and out of 102 positive samples, 17.64% were O26 and 13.72% were O157 and 1.96% were O91 and 1.96% were O145 serotypes. Totally, the prevalence of stx1 and papA genes were the highest while the prevalence of sfaS and fyuA were the lowest in the positive samples. PCR results showed that tetA, tetB were the highest (64.70%) and aac(3)-IV were the lowest (27.45%) antibiotic resistant genes in E. coli positive samples. Our study indicated that the isolated E. coli trains in these regions had a highest antibiotic resistance to tetracycline (58.82%) and the lowest to nitrofurantoin (3.92%). tetA gene and E. coli O157 serotype had highest and aac(3)-IV gene, and E. coli O145 serotype had a lowest frequency rates of antibiotics resistance genes, in the region.