title: Prevalence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in gallbladders of beef cattle.
abstract: Gallbladders and rectal contents were collected from cattle (n=933) at slaughter to determine whether the gallbladder harbors Escherichia coli O157:H7. Both gallbladder mucosal swabs and homogenized mucosal tissues were used for isolation. Only five gallbladders (0.54%) were positive for E. coli O157:H7. Fecal prevalence averaged 7.1%; however, none of the cattle that had E. coli O157:H7 in the gallbladder was positive for E. coli O157:H7 in feces. Therefore, the gallbladder does not appear to be a common site of colonization for E. coli O157:H7 in beef cattle.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506-5606, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reinstein
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: T G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Nagaraja
mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D019453:Escherichia coli O157 / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005704:Gallbladder / Q000382:microbiology*; D015995:Prevalence