Prevalence, risk factors, O serogroups, and virulence profiles of Shiga toxin-producing bacteria from cattle production environments.
Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing bacteria are important human pathogens that have been linked with cattle and associated food products. We recovered Stx-producing bacteria from 27.5% of cattle, 6.8% of water, and 2.3% of wildlife samples from a cattle production area during an 11-month period. Positive samples were found during every month and on 98% of sampling days. We recovered isolates from all cattle operations sampled, and prevalence within operations ranged from approximately 5 to 33%. Cattle prevalence was associated with the presence of Stx-producing bacteria in water and the production group and environment of cattle, with an interaction between production group and environment. Odds of recovering isolates from cattle were highest for groups of adult cows and their unweaned calves in pasture environments. Overall, 49 O serogroups were identified from 527 isolates. Seventy of the isolates contained virulence genes that encoded intimin and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli hemolysin. These were serogroups O111, O157, O109, O103, O145, O172, O84, O26, O108, O117, O126, O159, O5, O69, O74, O98, and O-rough. Our results suggest that the prevalence of Stx-producing bacteria can be relatively high in cattle, and associated factors may not be entirely similar to those reported for serotype O157:H7. Although Stx-producing bacteria were frequently detected, the strains may not be equally pathogenic for humans given the wide variety of serogroups and virulence genes. However, focusing on O157:H7 in food safety and surveillance programs may allow other Stx-producing bacteria, which appear to be widespread in cattle, to go undetected.
Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506, USA. drenter@vet.ksu.edu
David G
DG
Renter
J Glenn
JG
Morris
Jan M
JM
Sargeant
Laura L
LL
Hungerford
John
J
Berezowski
Thao
T
Ngo
Karen
K
Williams
David W K
DW
Acheson
D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000382:microbiology; D002353:Carrier State / Q000662:veterinary; D002417:Cattle / Q000382:microbiology*; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis / Q000517:prevention & control; D005516:Food Microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008372:Manure / Q000382:microbiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011634:Public Health; D012307:Risk Factors; D012703:Serotyping; D022603:Shiga Toxins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D054323:Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism*; D014774:Virulence; D014871:Water Microbiology
D008372:Manure; D022603:Shiga Toxins