Several outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections have been associated with minimally processed leafy vegetables in the United States. Harvesting and processing cause plant tissue damage. In order to assess the role of plant tissue damage in the contamination of leafy greens with E. coli O157:H7, the effect of mechanical, physiological, and plant disease-induced lesions on the growth of ...

The survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in feces from steers fed corn (CO) or barley (BA) was evaluated at -10, +4 and +22 degrees C. Fecal pats were inoculated with a four-strain mixture of nalidixic-acid resistant E. coli O157:H7 at two levels: 10(3) CFU g(-1) (low, L) and 105 CFU g(-1) (high, H). At -10 degrees C, duration of survival of E. coli O157:H7 was reduced (p < 0.05) in CO-L (35 da...

A culture method to detect non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) was optimized in this study. The finished dairy compost with 30% moisture content was inoculated with a cocktail of six non-O157 STEC serovars at initial concentrations of 1 to 100 CFU/g. Afterward, non-O157 STEC cells in the inoculated dairy compost were enriched by four methods, followed by plating onto cefixime...

Outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 disease associated with animal exhibits have been reported with increasing frequency. Transmission can occur through contact with contaminated haircoats, bedding, farm structures, or water. We investigated the distribution and survival of E. coli O157:H7 in the immediate environments of individually housed, experimentally inoculated cattle by systematically...

E. coli O157:H7 is recognised as an important human pathogen world-wide and has been associated with diseases such as haemorrhagic colitis (HC), haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and thrombotic thrombocytopaenic purpura (TTP). Accurate laboratory detection of E. coli O157:H7 is important for diagnostic purposes and to justify epidemiological data on E. coli O157:H7. A well-known phenotypic char...

To the Editor: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 has become a major meat safety issue worldwide. Cattle, an important reservoir of human infection (1), may not be the only source of this organism (2,3). In a survey of pigs in England (4), non-STEC O157 was isolated from four (0.4%) fecal samples collected (after slaughter) from 1,000 pigs. We found that, although an unlikely...

We report the draft genome sequences of three enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) isolates that display the O157 serogroup but do not have the Shiga toxin genes (stx), which are characteristic of O157 enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). E. coli strain RN587/1 has the O157:H8 serotype and possesses the EAF plasmid characteristic of typical EPEC (J. B. Kaper, J. P. Nataro, and H. L. Mobley, Na...

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of free chlorine concentrations in wash water on Escherichia coli O157:H7 reduction, survival, and transference during washing of fresh-cut lettuce. The effectiveness of rewashing for inactivation of E. coli O157:H7 on newly cross-contaminated produce previously washed with solutions containing an insufficient amount of chlorine also was assess...

In a longitudinal study in a Finnish cattle finishing unit we investigated excretion and sources of Escherichia coli O157 in bulls from postweaning until slaughter. Three groups of 31 to 42 calves were sampled in a calf transporter before they entered the farm and four to seven times at approximately monthly intervals at the farm. All calves sampled in the livestock transporter were negative fo...