Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O84 isolates (n = 22) were examined using culture- and molecularly based methods in order to compare their phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. These analyses directly linked Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O84 isolates from cattle and sheep with human isolates indicating that New Zealand livestock may be a reservoir of infection.

In the context of a large outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O104:H4 in Germany, we quantified the timeliness of the German surveillance system for hemolytic uremic syndrome and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli notifiable diseases during 2003-2011. Although reporting occurred faster than required by law, potential for improvement exists at all levels of the information chain.

BACKGROUND The BD MAX™ Enteric Bacterial Panel (BDM-EBP) is designed and FDA-cleared to detect Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, and Shiga toxin genes stx1/2 from stool samples. However, rectal swabs, which are not FDA-cleared for clinical testing with the BDM-EBP, are common specimens received from pediatric patients for enteric pathogen testing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate th...

We have developed a rapid (1-h) real-time fluorescence-based PCR assay with the Smart Cycler thermal cycler (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, Calif.) for the detection of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), as well as other Shiga toxin-producing bacteria. Based on multiple-sequence alignments, we have designed two pairs of PCR primers that efficiently amplify all variants of the Shiga toxin genes...

The presence of commensal flora reduced colonization of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and production of Shiga toxin (Stx) in the murine intestine. Stx production was not detected in mice colonized with E. coli that were resistant to the Shiga toxin phage, but it was detected in mice colonized with phage-susceptible E. coli.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) may cause bloody diarrhea and hemorrhagic colitis (HC), with subsequent systemic disease. Since genes coding for Shiga toxins (stx genes) are located on lambdoid prophages, their effective production occurs only after prophage induction. Such induction and subsequent lytic development of Shiga toxin-converting bacteriophages results not only in prod...

BACKGROUND Shiga-like toxin 2 (Stx2) is one of the most important virulence factors in enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains such as O157H7. Subtypes of Stx2 are diverse with respect to their sequence, toxicity, and distribution. The most diverse Stx2 subtype, Stx2f, is difficult to detect immunologically, but is becoming more frequently associated with human illness. METHODS ...

This study has evaluated the use of a commercially available Rainbow agar O157 and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for the detection of Shiga-like toxin producing Escherichia coli and to serotype E. coli O157:H7 from raw meat. The Rainbow agar O157 was found to be selective and sensitive for the screening of the E. coli O157 from artificially and naturally contaminated meat samples. Shig...

Fusion of two genes at DNA level produces a single protein, known as a chimeric protein. Immunotoxins are chimeric proteins composed of specific cell targeting and cell killing moieties. Bacterial or plant toxins are commonly used as the killing moieties of the chimeric immunotoxins. In this investigation, the catalytic domain of Shiga-like toxin (A1) was fused to human granulocyte macrophage ...