Verotoxic Escherichia coli (STEC) from beef and its products.
In the present investigation, out of 27 (24.10%) strains of Escherichia coli isolated from 112 beef samples comprising raw meat (45), kabab (36) and kofta (31), 9 (33.33%) belonging to 7 different serotypes were verotoxic as tested by vero cell cytotoxic assay. Serotype O145 was the predominant STEC in raw meat. Interestingly, one STEC-O157 strain was also detected. All the STEC strains were positive for Stx genes by polymerase chain reaction showing stx2 (77.78%) to be most predominant followed by stx1 (22.22%). Phenotypic enterohaemolysin production on washed sheep blood agar supplemented with CaCl2 revealed 6 (66.67%) STEC strains to be positive. Presence of STEC in cooked beef products, viz., kabab and kofta appeared to be a matter of concern and potential threat to public health.
Hazarika
R A
RA
Division of Veterinary Public Health, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly 243 122, India. rah@sancharnet.in
Singh
D K
DK
Kapoor
K N
KN
Agarwal
R K
RK
Pandey
A B
AB
Purusottam
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008460:Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012703:Serotyping; D022621:Shiga Toxin / Q000235:genetics; D014709:Vero Cells
D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; C066219:enterohemolysin; D022621:Shiga Toxin