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Prevalence of the eaeA gene in verotoxigenic Escherichia coli strains from dairy cattle in Southwest Ontario

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

K. S. Sandhu ,
R. C. Clarke ,
K. McFadden ,
A. Brouwer ,
M. Louie ,
J. Wilson ,
H. Lior  and
C. L. Gyles
K. S. Sandhu
Affiliation:
Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
R. C. Clarke
Affiliation:
Agriculture Canada, Health of Animals Laboratory, Guelph
K. McFadden
Affiliation:
Agriculture Canada, Health of Animals Laboratory, Guelph
A. Brouwer
Affiliation:
Agriculture Canada, Health of Animals Laboratory, Guelph
M. Louie
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto
J. Wilson
Affiliation:
Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Ottawa
H. Lior
Affiliation:
Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Ottawa
C. L. Gyles*
Affiliation:
Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
*
* Corresponding author: Dr Carlton Gyles, Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Immunology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada NIG 2W1.
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This study determined the prevalence of the eaeA gene and its relationship to serotype and type of verotoxin produced in a collection of 432 verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) obtained from the faeces of healthy cows and calves in a systematic random survey involving 80 dairy farms in Southwest Ontario. A PCR amplification procedure involving primer pairs which target the conserved central region of the O157:H7 eaeA. gene showed that 151 (35·2%) strains were positive for the eaeA gene. All isolates (9–21 for each O group) of O groups 5, 26, 69, 84, 103, 111, 145 and 157 were positive, whereas all isolates (7–34 for each O group) of O groups 113, 132, and 153 and serotype O156:NM (38 isolates) were negative for eaeA. Seventy-three percent of 130 isolates of eaeA-positive serotypes produced VT1 only compared with 20% of 253 isolates of eaeA-negative serotypes. We conclude that there is a strong association between certain O groups and the eaeA gene, that serotypes of eaeA-positive and eaeA-negative VTEC implicated in human and cattle disease are present at high frequency in the faeces of healthy cattle, that VT1 is more frequently associated with eaeA-positive than with eaeA-negative serogroups, and that the eaeA gene is more frequently found in VTEC from calves compared with VTEC from adult cattle.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 116 , Issue 1 , February 1996 , pp. 1 - 7
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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