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

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $37.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

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

Publication date: 2005-08-01

More about this publication?

IAFP members must first sign in on the right to access full text articles of JFP

First published in 1937, the Journal of Food Protection^®, is a refereed monthly publication. Each issue contains scientific research and authoritative review articles reporting on a variety of topics in food science pertaining to food safety and quality. The Journal is internationally recognized as the leading publication in the field of food microbiology with a readership exceeding 11,000 scientists from 70 countries. The Journal of Food Protection^® is indexed in Index Medicus, Current Contents, BIOSIS, PubMed, Medline, and many others.

Print and online subscriptions are available to Members and Institutional subscribers. Online visitors who are not IAFP Members or journal subscribers will be charged on a pay-per-view basis. Information can be obtained by calling +1 800.369.6337; +1 515.276.3344; fax: +1 515.276.8655, E-mail: info@foodprotection.org or Web site: www.foodprotection.org
Information for Authors
Submit a Paper
Subscribe to this Title
Membership Information
Information for Advertisers
ingentaconnect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

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

Buy & download fulltext article:

Tools

Key

Text size:

Useful pages