The clinical spectrum following infection with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is wide ranging and includes hemorrhagic colitis and life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Severity of STEC illness depends on patients' age and strongly on the infecting strains' virulence. Serogroup O157 is often assumed to be more virulent than others. Age-adjusted population-based data s...

An increasing number of Shiga toxin 2f-producing Escherichia coli (STEC2f) infections in humans are being reported in Europe, and pigeons have been suggested as a reservoir for the pathogen. In Japan, there is very little information regarding carriage of STEC2f by pigeons, prompting the need for further investigation. We collected 549 samples of pigeon droppings from 14 locations in Kyushu, Ja...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is a subset of pathogenic E. coli that can cause diarrhea or hemorrhagic colitis in humans. Hemorrhagic colitis occasionally progresses to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), an important cause of acute renal failure in children and morbidity and mortality in adults. In the elderly, the case fatality rate for HUS can be as high as 50%. E. coli O157:H7 (EHE...

*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Miyazaki Prefectural Institute for Public Health and Environment, Gakuen Kibanadai Nishi 2-3-2, Miyazaki city, Miyazaki 889-2155, Japan. Tel: +81-985-58-1410, Fax: +81-98558-0930, E-mail: [email protected] Outbreaks of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) have frequently occurred in nursery schools in Japan...

Rectal fecal samples were taken once a week from 49 calves on the same farm. In addition, the dams of the calves were sampled at the time of calf birth and at the end of the study. Strains of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) were isolated from these samples by using PCR and DNA probe hybridization tests and were characterized with respect to serotype, verocytotoxin gene (vtx) typ...

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a leading cause of foodborne illness worldwide. The present study developed the use of DNA microarrays with the ampliPHOX colorimetric method to rapidly detect and genotype STEC strains. A low-density 30-mer oligonucleotide DNA microarray was designed to target O-antigen gene clusters of 11 E. coli serogroups (O26, O45, O91, O103, O104, O111, O11...

Aim This study describes the prevalence of Escherichia coli in frozen chicken meat intended for human consumption with emphasis on their virulence determinants through detection of the virulence genes and recognition of the extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) encoding genes (blaOXA and blaTEM genes). Materials and Methods A total of 120 frozen chicken meat samples were investigated for isola...

INTRODUCTION Fresh produce has been implicated in a number of documented outbreaks of foodborne illness caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) have been detected on vegetables, raising concerns about the prevalence of E. coli contamination in produce, which can take place at various points from farm to fork. This study aimed to detect the prese...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O26:H11, a serotype within Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) that causes severe human disease, has been considered to have evolved from attaching and effacing E. coli (AEEC) O26:H11 through the acquisition of a Shiga toxin-encoding gene. Targeted amplicon sequencing using next-generation sequencing technology of 48 phylogenetically informative single...

A 12-month longitudinal study was undertaken on two dairy herds to ascertain the Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 and O26 shedding status of the animals and its impact (if any) on raw milk. Cattle are a recognized reservoir for these organisms with associated public health and environmental implications. Animals shedding E. coli O157 at >10,000 CFU/g of feces have been deemed ...