title: Detection of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in food.
abstract: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli are emerging as a significant source of food-borne infectious disease all over the world. Illness caused by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli can range from self limited, watery diarrhea to life-threatening manifestations such as hemorrhagic colitis, hemolytic uremic syndrome or thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and death. Shiga toxin-producing E. coli can potentially enter the human food chain from a number of animal sources, most commonly by contamination of meat with feces or intestinal contents after slaughter or cross-contamination of unpasteurized milk products. Because of the low infectious dose of the O157:H7 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli strain, laboratory diagnosis of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli in food samples has developed a great importance. This review will focus on the microorganism, giving priority to illness prevention and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli detection in food.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Ambiental, Servicio de Salud del Ambiente, Region Metropolitana, Santiago, Chile. m_alexandre@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alexandre
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Prado
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015342:DNA Probes; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D006801:Humans; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D022622:Shiga Toxin 1 / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D022641:Shiga Toxin 2 / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D022622:Shiga Toxin 1; D022641:Shiga Toxin 2