Association of vt1c with verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli from goats and sheep

Abstract. A total of 232 verotoxin 1 (VT1)-positive, VT-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) strains isolated from goats, sheep, and cattle were analyzed for the presence of the vt1c gene by polymerase chain reaction. One hundred and forty of the 144 (97.2%) caprine strains and 55 of the 63 (87.3%) ovine strains possessed the vt1c gene. In contrast, the gene was not detected in any of the 25 bovine strains. These results show that the vt1c gene is found in caprine VTEC strains and confirm that gene is associated with ovine VTEC strains. Key words: Ruminants; verotoxin 1–producing Escherichia coli; vt1c gene. <!?show "fnote_aff1"$^!"content-markup(./author-grp[1]/aff|./author-grp[1]/dept-list)>Verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC), also referred to as Shiga toxin–producing E. coli, may cause severe diseases in humans, such as hemorrhagic colitis (HC) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).6 Verotoxin-pro-ducing Escherichia coli strains that are capable of inducing HC and HUS are called enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC).6 Ruminants represent an important reservoir of VTEC and a source of infections for humans.3,7–9 Verotoxin production alone is not sufficient for VTEC t