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Prevalence and characterization of Escherichia coli O157 and O157:H7 in retail fresh raw meat in South China

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Abstract

Escherichia coli O157 is an important food-borne pathogen that can cause diarrhoea, haemorrhagic colitis, and haemolytic uraemic syndrome. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence, virulence genes, antibiotic resistance, and genetic diversity of E. coli O157 and O157:H7 in retail fresh raw meat sold in the markets of South China. Of 551 samples collected, 21 (3.81 %) were contaminated with E. coli O157 and seven (1.27 %) with O157:H7. The highest prevalence rate was found in beef (13.32 %), followed by pork (6.90 %), chicken (3.28 %), duck (2.54 %), and mutton (0). The virulence genes stx1, stx2, eaeA, and hlyA were detected in 10.71, 21.43, 85.71, and 25 % of 28 isolates, respectively. The isolates were highly resistant to penicillin (100 %), chloramphenicol (64.29 %), ampicillin (57.14 %), and sensitive to gentamicin (100 %), cefotazidime (96.43 %), and ciprofloxacin (96.43 %). Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus-PCR (ERIC-PCR) classified 28 isolates and two reference strains into 19 different profiles with a discrimination index (D) of 0.961. Four E. coli O157:H7 isolates from beef showed 83 % similarity with the two clinical reference strains, indicating a potential high virulence for consumers. The results of this study suggested that fresh raw meat could be potential vehicles for transmission of E. coli O157 to humans.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by research grants from the International Science and Technology Cooperation Projects (No.2013DFH30070). The authors acknowledge colleagues in our lab for kindly technical assistance. We are also thankful to the reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangdong Provincial Public Laboratory for Applied and New Technology of Microbiology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, No. 100 Central Xianlie Road, Guangzhou, 510070, China

    Shuhong Zhang, Xuemei Zhu, Qingping Wu, Jumei Zhang, Xiaoke Xu & Haigang Li

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  1. Shuhong Zhang
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  2. Xuemei Zhu
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  3. Qingping Wu
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  4. Jumei Zhang
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Correspondence to Qingping Wu.

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Supplemental files Figure S1

These are the results of multiple-PCR for identification of E .coli O157 and E. coli O157:H7 isolates. 1(a) Lanes: M, DNA size marker (DL2000); CK, negative control; 1, positive control ATCC35150; Lanes 2–8 are E. coli O157:H7 isolates (172–3, 202–2, 072–2, 075–1, 049–2, 050–2, 703–1). 1(b) Lanes: M, DNA size marker (DL2000); CK, negative control; 1, positive control ATCC35150; Lanes 2–22 are E. coli O157 isolates (1501–4, 142–2, 056–2, 230–3, 242–2, 2253–3, 2372–1, 2453–1, 073–3, 078–2, 236–1, 1552–1,054-1, 055–2, 009–1, 028–2, 175–4, 241–2, 225–2, 240–3, 016–3) (GIF 78 kb)

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Supplemental files Figure S2

The geographic locations of the sampling sites in China. (GIF 228 kb)

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Zhang, S., Zhu, X., Wu, Q. et al. Prevalence and characterization of Escherichia coli O157 and O157:H7 in retail fresh raw meat in South China. Ann Microbiol 65, 1993–1999 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1037-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1037-x

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