Distribution of Escherichia coli strains harbouring Shiga toxin-producting E. coli (STEC)-associated virulence factors (stx1, stx2, eae, ehxA) from very young calves in the North Island of New Zealand

The objective of this study was to determine the distribution of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) virulence markers (stxl, stx2, eae, ehxA) in E. coli strains isolated from young calves aged fewer than 7 days (bobby calves). In total, 299 recto-anal mucosal swabs were collected from ani...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epidemiology and infection 2014-12, Vol.142 (12), p.2548-2558
Main Authors: IRSHAD, H., COOKSON, A. L., PRATTLEY, D. J., DUFOUR, M., FRENCH, N. P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal diseases
Calves
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli O157
Gastrointestinal infection
Gels
Infections
Microbiology
Polymerase chain reaction
Virulence
Virulence factors
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Summary:The objective of this study was to determine the distribution of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) virulence markers (stxl, stx2, eae, ehxA) in E. coli strains isolated from young calves aged fewer than 7 days (bobby calves). In total, 299 recto-anal mucosal swabs were collected from animals at two slaughter plants and inoculated onto tryptone bile X-glucuronide and sorbitol MacConkey agar supplemented with cefixime and potassium tellurite. Isolates were analysed using multiplex polymerase chain reaction to detect stx1, stx2, eae and ehxA genes. The most common combination of virulence markers were eae, ehxA (n = 35) followed by eae (n = 9). In total, STEC and atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (aEPEC) were isolated from 8/299 (2·6%) and 37/299 (12·3%) calves, respectively. All the isolates could be assigned to 15 genotype clusters with >70% similarity cut-off using XbaI pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. It may be concluded that healthy calves from the dairy industry are asymptomatic carriers of a diverse population of STEC and aEPEC in New Zealand.
ISSN:0950-2688
1469-4409