Loss of O157 O antigenicity of verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 surviving under starvation conditions.
Verotoxin (VT)-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 was culturable on agar media after being left in water for 21 months. However, there were a number of colonies which had lost O157 O antigenicity. These colonies produced VTs, which are pathogenic to humans. These observations suggest that the immunologic methods based on O157 O antigenicity are unable to detect and isolate VT-producing E. coli in foods and other environments if the organism has been under starvation conditions for a long period.
Hara-Kudo
Y
Y
Department of Biomedical Food Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, USA. ykudo@nih.go.jp
Miyahara
M
M
Kumagai
S
S
D000818:Animals; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D019081:O Antigens / Q000378:metabolism*; D022603:Shiga Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D013997:Time Factors; D014774:Virulence; D014871:Water Microbiology
D019081:O Antigens; D022603:Shiga Toxins