Detection of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC)

Escherichia coli is a natural inhabitant of the intestines of both humans and animals, but there are also several pathogenic types of E. coli which cause disease in humans. Strains of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) have been associated with outbreaks of diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome in humans. Most clinical signs of disease arise as a consequence of the production of shigatoxin 1 and 2 or combination of these toxins. Other major virulence factors include EHEC hemolysin and intimin, the product of the eae gene that is involved in attaching and effacing adherence phenotype. EHEC has also been associated with uncomplicated diarrhea. The capacity to control EHEC disease and to limit the scale of outbreaks is dependent upon prompt diagnosis and identification of the source of infection. The principal reservoirs of EHEC are cattle and food products, which presumably have come into contact with domestic animal manure and/or are inadequately pasteurised, these are important vehicles of infection. In the present study, the PCR technique with primers detecting the verocytotoxin genes was shown to be a possible method to screen for and identify EHEC. In summary stx genes were detected in 16 samples of 228 sampels and the eae gene was detected in 2 samples using PCR