Escherichia coli O157:H7 prevalence in fecal samples of cattle from a southeastern beef cow-calf herd.
The proportion of fecal samples culture-positive for Escherichia coli O157:H7 was determined for samples collected from 296 beef cows on pasture in a single Florida herd in October, November, and December 2001. The overall proportion of samples that cultured positive was 0.03. The proportion of cows that were culture-positive on at least one occasion was 0.091. No effect of pregnancy status or nutritional regimen on the proportion of culture-positive samples for E. coli O157:H7 was detected. We detected a breed effect on the shedding of E. coli O157, with Romosinuano cows having a lower (P < 0.01) proportion of samples culture-positive than Angus or Brahman cows. This difference might have resulted from the presence of confounding variables; however, it also might represent evidence of breed-to-breed genetic variation in E. coli O157 shedding. Further research is warranted to evaluate breed as a possible risk factor for shedding of this important foodborne pathogen. Further substantiated findings could indicate that breed is a cow-calf-level critical control point of E. coli O157:H7.
US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Subtropical Agricultural Research Station, 22271 Chinsegut Hill Road, Brooksville, Florida 34601, USA. dgriley@mail.ifas.ufl.edu
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Riley
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Gray
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Loneragan
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Barling
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Chase
D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding; D002417:Cattle / Q000235:genetics*; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000662:veterinary*; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors