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Occurrence of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli pathotypes from raw milk and unpasteurized buttermilk by culture and multiplex polymerase chain reaction in southwest Iran

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Abstract

Background

In developing countries including Iran, there are limited data on diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) contamination in milk and unpasteurized buttermilks. This study aimed to determine the occurrence of DEC pathotypes by culture and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (M-PCR) in some dairy products from southwest Iran.

Methods and results

In this cross-sectional study (September to October 2021), 197 samples (87 unpasteurized buttermilk and 110 raw cow milk) were collected from dairy stores of Ahvaz, southwest Iran. The presumptive E. coli isolates were primarily identified using biochemical tests and then confirmed by PCR of uidA gene. The occurrence of 5 DEC pathotypes: enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC), enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), and enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC) were investigated using M-PCR. Overall, 76 (76/197, 38.6%) presumptive E. coli isolates were identified by biochemical tests. Using uidA gene, only 50 isolates (50/76, 65.8%) were confirmed as E. coli. DEC pathotypes were detected in 27 of 50 (54.0%) E. coli isolates (74.1%, 20/27 from raw cow milk and 25.9%, 7/27 from unpasteurized buttermilk). The frequency of DEC pathotypes was as follows: 1 (3.7%) EAEC, 2 (7.4%) EHEC, 4 (14.8%) EPEC, 6 (22.2%) ETEC, and 14 (51.9%) EIEC. However, 23 (46.0%) E. coli isolates had only the uidA gene and were not considered DEC pathotypes.

Conclusion

Possible health risks for Iranian consumers can be attributed to the presence of DEC pathotypes in dairy products. Hence, serious control and prevention efforts are needed to stop the spread of these pathogens.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

This study was adopted from the results of a part of the MSc thesis of Raziyeh Aliyan Aliabadi, approved in the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center and was financially supported by a grant (OG-9729) from the Research Affairs, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. The cooperation of the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences is acknowledged.

Funding

This work was funded by the Vice Chancellor for Research Affairs, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran and Infectious and Tropical Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran (grant no: OG-9729).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Marine Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Amanollah Zarei Ahmady

  2. Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Health Research Institute, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Amanollah Zarei Ahmady, Mansour Amin & Effat Abbasi Montazeri

  3. Department of Drug and Food Control, School of Pharmacy, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Raziyeh Aliyan Aliabadi & Abdoghani Ameri

  4. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Mansour Amin & Effat Abbasi Montazeri

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  1. Amanollah Zarei Ahmady
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  2. Raziyeh Aliyan Aliabadi
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Contributions

Amanollah Zarei Ahmady, Raziyeh Aliyan Aliabadi, and Mansour Amin: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing- Original draft preparation, Writing-Reviewing and Editing, Formal analysis. Abdoghani Ameri and Effat Abbasi Montazeri: Methodology, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing- Original draft preparation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Effat Abbasi Montazeri.

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The authors have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee (REC) of the Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (No: IR.AJUMS.REC.1397.438), Ahvaz, Iran following the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Zarei Ahmady, A., Aliyan Aliabadi, R., Amin, M. et al. Occurrence of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli pathotypes from raw milk and unpasteurized buttermilk by culture and multiplex polymerase chain reaction in southwest Iran. Mol Biol Rep 50, 3661–3667 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-023-08261-3

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