Longitudinal Study of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Shedding in Sheep Feces: Persistence of Specific Clones in Sheep Flocks

• Published in: Applied and Environmental Microbiology Vol. 75; no. 6; pp. 1769 - 1773
• Main Authors: Sánchez, Sergio, Martínez, Remigio, García, Alfredo, Blanco, Jorge, Blanco, Jesús E, Blanco, Miguel, Dahbi, Ghizlane, López, Cecilia, Mora, Azucena, Rey, Joaquín, Alonso, Juan M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for Microbiology 01.03.2009; American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
• Subjects: Animals; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Biological and medical sciences; Cloning; Cluster Analysis; Colonization; DNA Fingerprinting; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; E coli; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli Infections - microbiology; Escherichia coli Infections - veterinary; Feces; Feces - microbiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genotype; Longitudinal Studies; Microbiology; Public Health Microbiology; Serotyping; Sheep; Sheep Diseases - microbiology; Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli - classification; Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli - genetics; Shiga-Toxigenic Escherichia coli - isolation & purification; Studies; Time Factors; Toxins; Persistence; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Escherichia coli; Bacteria; Sheep; Artiodactyla; Feces; Ungulata; Shiga like toxin; Enterobacteriaceae
• ISSN: 0099-2240; 1098-5336; 1098-6596
• DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02043-08

To provide information on the persistence and maintenance of colonization with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in sheep, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of STEC isolates (n = 145) belonging to serogroups O5, O91, and O146 from 39 healthy animals was performed in a 12-month longitudinal study carried out with four sheep flocks. At the flock level as well as the individual-animal level, the same clones were obtained on sampling occasions separated by as much as 11 months.