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DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF VEROTOXIN‐PRODUCING ESCHERICHIA COLI (VTEC) ISOLATED FROM BUFFALO MEAT
Author(s) -
HAZARIKA R.A.,
SINGH D.K.,
KAPOOR K.N.,
AGARWAL R.K.,
PANDEY A.B.,
RAJKUMAR D.N.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of food safety
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.427
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1745-4565
pISSN - 0149-6085
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-4565.2004.00536.x
Subject(s) - vtec , serotype , escherichia coli , biology , virulence , microbiology and biotechnology , polymerase chain reaction , shiga like toxin , toxin , enterobacteriaceae , gene , genetics
The emergence of Verotoxin‐producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) as zoonotic foodborne pathogens in recent years has become a public health concern because of its life threatening human diseases. In the present investigation, out of 87 strains of E. coli , 22 (25%) belonging to 13 different serotypes isolated from raw buffalo meat and its products were found to be verotoxic as tested by Vero cell cytotoxic assay. Serotype O26 followed by O153 and O157 were the predominant VTEC. All the VTEC strains were found positive for vt genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Among the vt genotypes, vt 2 (77%) was most predominant followed by vt 1 (14%) and both vt 1 and vt 2 (9%). Production of enterohaemolysin on washed sheep blood agar supplemented with CaCl 2 showed 19 (86%) VTEC strains to be positive. Presence of VTEC in cooked buffalo meat products, namely shami kabab and kabab, appears to be a matter of concern and a potential threat to public health. VTEC detection by different methods suggests that PCR can be useful to evaluate the distribution of virulence genes ( vt 1 or vt 2 or both) in E. coli isolates from buffalo meat and its products.