Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Serotypes And Virulence Gene Profiles Of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia Coli Strains Isolated From Feces Of Pasture-Fed And Lot-Fed Sheep, Steven Djordjevic, Vidiya Ramachandran, Karl A Bettelheim, Barbara A. Vanselow, Peter Holst, Graham Bailey, Michael A. Hornitsky

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains possessing genes for enterohemolysin (ehxA) and/or intimin (eae), referred to here as complex STEC (cSTEC), are more commonly recovered from the feces of humans with hemolytic uremic syndrome and hemorrhagic colitis than STEC strains that do not possess these accessory virulence genes. Ruminants, particularly cattle and sheep, are recognized reservoirs of STEC populations that may contaminate foods destined for human consumption. We isolated cSTEC strains from the feces of longitudinally sampled pasture-fed sheep, lot-fed sheep maintained on diets comprising various combinations of silage and grain, and sheep simultaneously grazing pastures …