title: Prevalence and characterization of Escherichia coli O26 and O111 in retail minced beef in Ireland.
abstract: Verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) O157 are recognized as bacterial pathogens with significant public health impact. However, other serogroups, including O26, O111, O103, and O145, have the potential to cause the same spectrum of illness. In this study, 800 minced (ground) beef samples covering a large geographical region in Ireland were collected and tested for Escherichia coli (E. coli) O26 and E. coli O111 by conventional microbiological protocols. Two minced beef samples (0.25%) tested positive for E. coli O26, indicating fecal contamination. None of these isolates possessed verocytotoxin-encoding genes, (vt1/vt2 also known as stx1/stx2), the hemolysinencoding gene (hlyA), or the E. coli attachment-effacement (eae) gene, as determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). None of the beef samples analyzed contained E. coli O111. Although the E. coli O26 isolates were nonvirulent, the presence of these isolates in raw minced beef is an indication of fecal contamination and therefore potentially of public health significance.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Laboratory, Cherry Orchard Hospital, Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carroll
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Whyte
authors.forename: Micheál
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: O'Mahony
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Eleanor
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McNamara
authors.forename: Séamus
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fanning
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007494:Ireland; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012703:Serotyping; D022622:Shiga Toxin 1 / Q000235:genetics; D022641:Shiga Toxin 2; D022603:Shiga Toxins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D022622:Shiga Toxin 1; D022641:Shiga Toxin 2; D022603:Shiga Toxins; C430449:verocytotoxin 2