Prevalence and genetic profiling of virulence determinants of non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolated from cattle, beef, and humans, Calcutta, India.
We investigated the prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in hospitalized diarrhea patients in Calcutta, India, as well as in healthy domestic cattle and raw beef samples collected from the city's abattoir. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction using primers specific for stx1 and stx2 detected STEC in 18% of cow stool samples, 50% of raw beef samples, and 1.4% and 0.6% of bloody and watery stool samples, respectively, from hospitalized diarrhea patients. Various virulence genes in the STEC isolates indicated that stx1 allele predominated. Plasmid-borne markers, namely, hlyA, katP, espP, and etpD, were also identified. Bead enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Vero cell assay were performed to detect and evaluate the cytotoxic effect of the Shiga toxins produced by the strains. STEC is not an important cause of diarrhea in India; however, its presence in domestic cattle and beef samples suggests that this enteropathogen may become a major public health problem in the future.
Khan
Asis
A
National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, P-33, CIT Road, Belighata, Calcutta 700 010, India.
Yamasaki
Shinji
S
Sato
Toshio
T
Ramamurthy
Thandavarayan
T
Pal
Amit
A
Datta
Simanti
S
Chowdhury
Nandini Roy
NR
Das
Suresh Chandra
SC
Sikdar
Asim
A
Tsukamoto
Teizo
T
Bhattacharya
Sujit Kumar
SK
Takeda
Yoshifumi
Y
Nair
Gopinath Balakrish
GB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012703:Serotyping; D022603:Shiga Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D014709:Vero Cells; D014774:Virulence
D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D005819:Genetic Markers; D022603:Shiga Toxins