Ruminant animals are carriers of Escherichia coli O157:H7, and the transmission of E. coli O157:H7 from cattle to the environment and to humans is a concern. It is unclear if diet can influence the survivability of E. coli O157:H7 in the gastrointestinal system or in feces in the environment. Feces from cattle fed bromegrass hay or corn silage diets were inoculated with E. coli O157:H7, and the...

During the period from September 1996 through November 1996, 10 Dutch dairy farms were visited to collect fecal samples from all cattle present. The samples were examined for the presence of verocytotoxin (VT)-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) of serogroup O157 (O157 VTEC) by immunomagnetic separation following selective enrichment. Cattle on 7 of the 10 dairy farms tested positive for O157 VTE...

Escherichia coli (E.coli) O157 that do not produce Shiga toxin and do not possess flagellar antigen H7 are of diverse H serotypes. In this study, the antibiotic resistance properties, genotype of a set of virulence associated genes and the phylogenetic background of E. coli O157:non-H7 groups were compared. Whole genome sequencing was performed on fourteen O157:non-H7 isolates collected in the ...

BACKGROUND Escherichia coli O157 (E. coli O157) has been isolated from bison retail meat, a fact that is important given that bison meat has been implicated in an E. coli O157-multistate outbreak. In addition, E. coli O157 has also been isolated from bison feces at slaughter and on farms. Cattle are well documented as E. coli O157 reservoirs, and the primary site of E. coli O157 persistence in ...

AIMS To determine whether 17 Escherichia coli O157:H8 strains isolated from patients with diarrhoea in the United Kingdom were putative pathogens. METHODS The strains had been isolated by the use of O157 antiserum, available for the detection of Vero cytotoxin (VT) producing strains of E coli O157 that are usually of flagellar (H) type 7, but may also be non-motile. The strains were examined ...

Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 (VTEC O157) is an important zoonotic pathogen capable of causing infections in humans, sometimes with severe symptoms such as hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Cattle are considered to be the main reservoir of the bacterium. In this thesis, sampling strategies to detect VTEC O157 in a cattle herd, risk factors for the introduction an...

Fluorogenic procedures were used with the substrate 4-methylumbelliferyl-beta-D-glucuronide (MUG) to identify Escherichia coli. Most strains produced beta-glucuronidase and, thus, were MUG positive. A 20-min procedure was developed to detect glucuronidase activity in 1,295 bacterial cultures, representing 23 genera, of strains that were isolated from clinical specimens. Very few organisms other...

Recent water related outbreaks of shiga toxin producing E. coli O157 have resulted in increased attention of the water industry to this potentially deadly pathogen. Current methods to detect E. coli O157 and its virulence genes are laborious and time-consuming. Specificity, sensitivity and simple use of a real-time PCR method makes it an attractive alternative for the detection of STEC E. coli ...

Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection causes several hundred cases of food poisoning every year in Japan. In severe cases, this type of food poisoning can be fatal. In the present study, we examined the induction of HSP70 in E. coli O157:H7 cells at various temperatures and the thermotolerance of E. coli O157:H7 cells alone and in contaminated food following pre-heating. We evalu...