BACKGROUND:The bacterial contamination of fertile eggs isthe most common cause of embryonic death in ostrich hatcheryunits leading to financial loss in ostrich industry. OBJECTIVES:The aim of this research was to investigate the bacterialcontamination status, with emphasis on Escherichia coli, ofostrich hatcheries and the antimicrobial resistance profile ofisolated Escherichia coli. METHODS:Ato...

Population-based surveillance for Vero cytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) O157 has been carried out in Wales since 1990. The annual incidence has remained stable during the 9-year period (mean: 1.6 cases per 100,000 population); the rate is highest in children younger than 5 years of age. Blood in the stool is reported in fewer than half the cases, indicating the importance of screenin...

We sequenced the genomes of two strains of O104:H21 enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) isolated during an outbreak of hemorrhagic colitis in Montana in 1994. These strains carried a plasmid that contains several virulence genes not present in pO157. The genome sequences will improve phylogenetic analysis of other non-O157 E. coli strains in the future.

Water is a major route for infection of humans by exotoxin-producing bacteria, including Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). While STEC has the potential to be present in nearly every type of water source, its distribution is sporadic, and an understanding of factors that govern its emergence and persistence within water is lacking. In this study, we examined the influence of microbe...

* Corresponding author 16 Dr. Gary A. Dykes 17 Food Science Australia 18 PO Box 3312 19 Tingalpa DC, Queensland, 4173, Australia 20 Phone: +61 7 3214 2037 21 Fax: +61 7 3214 2150 22 Email: [email protected] 23 AC CE P ED Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology and/or the Listed Authors/Institutions. All Rights Reserved. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.02232-08 AEM Accept...

Ethanolamine (EA) is a compound prevalent in the gastrointestinal (GI) environment. The ability to catabolize this compound has been associated with important GI pathogens, including enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EHEC). It has been hypothesized that the ability of EHEC to utilize EA as a source of nitrogen provides EHEC with an important competitive advantage in the gut. However, ...

We conducted a study to quantify and characterize household transmission of Shiga toxin (Vero cytotoxin)-producing Escherichia coli O157 (STEC O157) following sporadic infection in Wales. Through total population surveillance, we identified 83 index case-patients and their household contacts. We screened fecal samples submitted from household contacts for STEC O157 and calculated the household ...

Comparisons were made between Vero cell assay (VCA) and PCR as indicators for the detection of verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC; also known as Shiga-like toxin-producing E. coli) and as predictors of VTEC isolation from bovine and human fecal samples. Fecal samples were collected as part of a survey on the prevalence of VTEC on dairy farms in southern Ontario (J. B. Wilson et al., J. In...

Fecal samples from 335 dairy farm residents and 1458 cattle on 80 farms were tested for Vero cytotoxin (VT)-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC). Residents were also tested for antibodies to VT1 and O157 lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Residents and cattle on farms with VTEC-positive persons or E. coli O157:H7-positive cattle were retested. Twenty-one persons (6.3%) on 16 farms (20.8%) and 46% of cattle...

We compared the pathogenicity of intimin-negative non-O157:H7 Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O91:H21 and O104:H21 strains with the pathogenicity of intimin-positive O157:H7 and O157:H(-) strains in neonatal pigs. We also examined the role of Stx2d-activatable genes and the large hemolysin-encoding plasmid of O91:H21 strain B2F1 in the pathogenesis of STEC disease in pigs. W...