Investigation of domestic animals and pets as a reservoir for intimin- ( eae) gene positive Escherichia coli types

Domestic animals belonging to seven different species (cattle, sheep, dogs, cats, pigs, chicken and goats) were investigated as natural reservoirs for attaching and effacing Escherichia coli (AEEC). For this, 2165 E. coli strains from faeces of 803 animals were examined for the presence of the intim...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Veterinary microbiology 2005-03, Vol.106 (1), p.87-95
Main Authors: Krause, Gladys, Zimmermann, Sonja, Beutin, Lothar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adhesins, Bacterial - chemistry
Adhesins, Bacterial - genetics
Animals
Animals, Domestic - microbiology
Attaching and effacing
attaching and effacing Escherichia coli
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Cats - microbiology
Cattle - microbiology
Chickens - microbiology
disease reservoirs
Disease Reservoirs - veterinary
DNA, Bacterial - chemistry
DNA, Bacterial - genetics
Dogs - microbiology
Domestic animals
EHEC
EPEC
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli - genetics
Escherichia coli - growth & development
Escherichia coli Infections - microbiology
Escherichia coli Infections - veterinary
Escherichia coli Proteins - chemistry
Escherichia coli Proteins - genetics
Escherichia infections
excretion
feces
Feces - microbiology
Fimbriae Proteins - chemistry
Fimbriae Proteins - genetics
Flagellin
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
intimin
microbial genetics
Microbiology
Miscellaneous
Nucleic Acid Hybridization
O Antigens - genetics
Pets
Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
serotypes
Sheep - microbiology
Shiga toxin
strain differences
strains
Swine - microbiology
virulence
virulence markers
zoonoses
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Summary:Domestic animals belonging to seven different species (cattle, sheep, dogs, cats, pigs, chicken and goats) were investigated as natural reservoirs for attaching and effacing Escherichia coli (AEEC). For this, 2165 E. coli strains from faeces of 803 animals were examined for the presence of the intimin -( eae) gene as a characteristic of AEEC strains. Ten percent of the animals were found to excrete AEEC, most frequently found in sheep (19.2%) and pigs (17.6), followed by cattle (10.4%), dogs (7.2%), cats (6.5%) and poultry (2.3%). The 97 AEEC strains from animals were grouped into 44 serotypes. Only four E. coli serotypes (O2:H8, O26:[H11], O109:[H25] and O145:[H28] were found in more than one animal host species. AEEC O26:[H11] strains were most frequently isolated (13.4%) being present in cattle, poultry, pigs and sheep. A search for virulence markers associated with enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) revealed Shiga-toxin genes in three (3.1%) AEEC strains from sheep. Bundle forming pili genes as a trait of typical enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) were detected in four (4.1%) strains from dogs and cats. The remaining 90 AEEC strains were classified as atypical EPEC. Typing of intimin genes revealed intimin β being present in 51.5% of the strains, followed by intimins θ (23.7%), ɛ (6.2%), κ (5.2%), ζ (5.2%), α, η and ι (each 1.0%). Our data indicate that domestic animals and pets constitute an important natural reservoir of AEEC strains, and some of these (O26:[H11], O103:H2, O128:H2, O145:[H28] and O177:[H11]) are known to occur as pathogens in humans.
ISSN:0378-1135
1873-2542
DOI:10.1016/j.vetmic.2004.11.012