title: DNA fingerprinting approaches to trace Escherichia coli sharing between dogs and owners.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of cross-species sharing of Escherichia coli between healthy dogs and humans living in the same household.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two faecal E. coli isolates from 25 healthy dog-owner pairs and 16 healthy control humans were tested using three fingerprinting methods. The prevalence of within-household sharing of E. coli was 4, 8 and 8% using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA and enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR analyses respectively. Within-household bacterial sharing was more prevalent than across-household sharing (P < 0·05). According to questionnaire analyses avoiding the dog-owner behaviours such as allowing a dog to kiss or lick the owner's face, sharing people food with dog and feeding it raw meat may decrease the chance of cross-species E. coli sharing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Direct contact between humans and dogs and environmental reservoirs may be important routes for cross-species sharing of bacteria. Good personal hygiene and appropriate veterinary care for pets can minimize this risk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Due to the importance of canine pathogenic E. coli reservoir hypothesis, close contacts between humans and dogs raises public health concerns. Determining the rate of cross-species bacterial sharing and confirm its accuracy by different fingerprinting techniques will help to find ways for reducing the economic impact of E. coli infections. This study support claims that public health concerns regarding the cross-species sharing of E. coli are warranted but this risk is minimal.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Naziri
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Derakhshandeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Firouzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology and Virology, Shiraz University of Medical Science, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Motamedifar
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical studies, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shojaee Tabrizi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary; D004285:Dogs / Q000382:microbiology*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Dog; E. coli; cross-species bacterial sharing; molecular fingerprinting; owner