Prevalence of heat-stable II enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in pigs, water, and people at farms in Thailand as determined by DNA hybridization

Abstract

The DNA hybridization assay employing a 460-base-pair fragment of DNA encoding for the methanol-insoluble form of heat-stable toxin (ST-II) was used to determine the prevalence of ST-II enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) in pigs, people, and water at 57 farms in Sri Racha, Thailand. ST-II ETEC was found in 62 (3%) of 2,110 suckling, 181 (32%) of 560 weaned, and 4 (1%) of 457 adult pigs examined. Of 62 suckling pigs with ST-II ETEC infections 21% had diarrhea, but none of 185 infected older pigs had diarrhea. ST-II ETEC was found more frequently in suckling pigs with diarrhea than without diarrhea (13 of 146 versus 49 of 1,964) (P less than 0.001). ST-II ETEC was detected in water collected from 3 of 57 clay jars containing water used to bathe at three pig farms, in 1 jar used to bathe immediately after working in the barn, and from one farmer who did not have a recent history of diarrhea. Evidence of this organism was not found in 245 other individuals living on the pig farms or in 220 inhabitants and 114 water specimens collected at tapioca farms nearby. In Thailand ST-II ETEC was found in suckling pigs with diarrhea but was infrequently found in humans.

Development and use of 16S rRNA gene targeted PCR primers for the identification of Escherichia coli cells in water

“…The presence of Escherichia coli in water or food can be used as a microbiological indicator for faecal contamination and as a measurement for sanitary quality (Geldreich 1983 ;Bej et al 1990Bej et al , 1991Hsu et al 1991). The E. coli cells present in water or food are mainly non-pathogenic E. coli although in some cases, pathogenic strains, such as enterotoxigenic and shiga-toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) cells may also be present (Echeverria et al 1984 ;Candrian et al 1991a ;Lee Lang et al 1994).…”

Development and use of a multiplex PCR system for the rapid screening of heat labile toxin I, heat stable toxin II and shiga-like toxin I and II genes of Escherichia coli in water

“…As described earlier, although several multiplex PCR systems have been developed for the simultaneous detection of LTI, STI-producing E. coli and Shigella spp. (Frankel et al 1989), LTI, STI (Stacy-Phipps et al 1995 and SLTI and SLTII E. coli cells (Cebula 1995), these systems would not allow the detection of STII E. coli cells which were primarily associated with porcine diarrhoea disease and which might contaminate natural or drinking water (Echeverria et al 1984). Water may be a common reservoir of SLTI, SLTII, LTI and STII (a) (b) Fig.…”

“…LTII ETEC has been isolated rarely and only in Brazil and Thailand (Guth et al 1986 ;Candrian et al 1991 ;CerQuerira et al 1994). Although STII ETEC may be isolated from humans it has primarily been associated with porcine diarrhoea disease and is the most prevalent toxigenic E. coli strain of porcine origin (Echeverria 1984 ;Guth et al 1986 ;Candrian et al 1991). However, although many questions remain, the shiga toxins themselves appear to be responsible for many pathological effects associ-O157 : H7 contaminated water from the public water system have been reported (Geldreich et al 1992 ;Swerdlow et al 1992).…”

“…Also, it has been reported that cities using untreated water may incur a greater risk of widespread illness from the contaminated drinking water . Recent studies of pathogenic E. coli in freshwater environments indicate that environmental water may be an important reservoir for infectious E. coli (Echeverria et al 1984 ;Ghosh et al 1991 ;Lee Lang et al 1994). As contamination of water by STEC and/or ETEC is possible, a rapid and reliable method for the simultaneous monitoring of these E. coli cells in water is important.…”

“…(Frankel et al 1989), LTI, STI (Stacy-Phipps et al 1995), SLTI and SLTII (Cebular et al 1995) have been developed. However, these multiplex PCR systems do not allow the detection of STII ETEC which also has the potential to contaminate environmental water, especially when water is contaminated with porcine waste (Echeverria et al 1984).…”