Prevalence of virulence genes among Escherichia coli strains isolated from food and carcass swabs of different animal origins in Croatia

Escherichia coli is present in the normal intestinal flora but some strains can cause intestinal and extraintestinal diseases, and research on its presence in food of animal origin is in the interests of public health. This study was designed to characterise E. coli strains according to their origin, their carriage of virulence genes specific for certain pathogroups, and phylogenetic group affiliation.

Material and Methods

The study was carried out on 100 E. coli strains isolated from food samples of various animal origin as well as pig and cattle carcass swabs. Isolation of the strains was performed using two methods. One method included colony count and the other an overnight enrichment of the samples. Isolation was followed by DNA extraction and detection of virulence genes and phylogenetic group with conventional and multiplex PCRs.

Results

In this study, the most prevalent gene was EAST1 (20%) and strains which carried it were identified as enteroadherent E. coli. Other pathogroups were represented in lower incidences. Phylogenetic group analysis revealed the prevalence of the A and B1 groups, with B1 mainly present in game and cattle strains, while the majority of pig and poultry strains were assigned to group A.

Conclusion

This study provides an overview of the presence of potentially pathogenic strains and E. coli phylogenetic groups in Croatia, for which the data are limited. Further microbiological and molecular research is required to examine the epidemiological situation in the country.

Lingua:: Inglese

Frequenza di pubblicazione:: 4 volte all'anno
Argomenti della rivista:: Scienze biologiche, Biologia molecolare, Microbiologia e virologia, Scienze della vita, altro, Medicina, Medicina veterinaria

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Prevalence of virulence genes among Escherichia coli strains isolated from food and carcass swabs of different animal origins in Croatia

Dora Stojević

Andrea Humski

Marina Mikulić

Vesna Dobranić

Irena Reil

Sanja Duvnjak

Miroslav Benić

Relja Beck

Željko Cvetnić

Pubblicato online: 30 ago 2022

Pagine: 395 - 402

Ricevuto: 31 mar 2022

Accettato: 16 ago 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jvetres-2022-0045

Parole chiavepublic health, pathogroup, phylogenetic group, Croatia

© 2022 D. Stojević et al. published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Introduction

Material and Methods

Results

Conclusion

Parole chiave
public health, pathogroup, phylogenetic group, Croatia