title: French cattle is not a reservoir of the highly virulent enteroaggregative Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli of serotype O104:H4.
abstract: In May-June 2011, a massive outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome caused by enteroaggregative Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O104:H4 occurred in Europe, which was linked to the consumption of sprouted seeds. As ruminants are known reservoirs of STEC, this study investigated whether cattle could be a reservoir of enteroaggregative STEC O104:H4 and a potential source of transmission to humans. A total of 1468 French cattle were analysed for faecal carriage of the outbreak strain by PCR assays targeting stx2, wzx(O104), fliC(H4) and aggR genetic markers. None of the faecal samples contained the four markers simultaneously, indicating that cattle is not a reservoir of this recently emerged E. coli pathotype.
authors.affiliation: Anses, Maisons-Alfort Laboratory for Food Safety, Unit Bacterial Ecophysiology and Detection, F-94706 Maisons-Alfort, France. frederic.auvray@anses.fr
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Auvray
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dilasser
authors.forename: Delphine
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bibbal
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kérourédan
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oswald
authors.forename: Hubert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brugère
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000635:transmission; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005819:Genetic Markers / Q000235:genetics; D006463:Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D054323:Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers