Prevalence, Risk Factors, O Serogroups, and Virulence Profiles of Shiga Toxin–Producing Bacteria from Cattle Production Environments

Authors: Renter, David G.¹; Morris, J. Glenn²; Sargeant, Jan M.³; Hungerford, Laura L.²; Berezowski, John⁴; Ngo, Thao⁵; Williams, Karen²; Acheson, David W.K.⁶

Source: Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 68, Number 8, August 2005 , pp. 1556-1565(10)

Publisher: International Association for Food Protection

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Abstract:

Shiga toxin (Stx)–producing bacteria are important human pathogens that have been linked with cattle and associated food products. We recovered Stx-producing bacteria from 27.5% of cattle, 6.8% of water, and 2.3% of wildlife samples from a cattle production area during an 11-month period. Positive samples were found during every month and on 98% of sampling days. We recovered isolates from all cattle operations sampled, and prevalence within operations ranged from approximately 5 to 33%. Cattle prevalence was associated with the presence of Stx-producing bacteria in water and the production group and environment of cattle, with an interaction between production group and environment. Odds of recovering isolates from cattle were highest for groups of adult cows and their unweaned calves in pasture environments. Overall, 49 O serogroups were identified from 527 isolates. Seventy of the isolates contained virulence genes that encoded intimin and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli hemolysin. These were serogroups O111, O157, O109, O103, O145, O172, O84, O26, O108, O117, O126, O159, O5, O69, O74, O98, and O-rough. Our results suggest that the prevalence of Stx-producing bacteria can be relatively high in cattle, and associated factors may not be entirely similar to those reported for serotype O157:H7. Although Stxproducing bacteria were frequently detected, the strains may not be equally pathogenic for humans given the wide variety of serogroups and virulence genes. However, focusing on O157:H7 in food safety and surveillance programs may allow other Stx-producing bacteria, which appear to be widespread in cattle, to go undetected.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA; Agri-Food Systems Branch, Food Safety Division, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Edmonton, Albe 2: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA 3: Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA 4: Agri-Food Systems Branch, Food Safety Division, Alberta Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6H 4P2 5: Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases, New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA 6: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21201, USA; Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases, New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA

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