The Rabbit as a New Reservoir Host of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Emerg Infect Dis
• Personal Author:
  García, Alexis ; Fox, James G.
• Description:
  We investigated the prevalence of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) in rabbits acquired from two commercial vendors and a local petting zoo. Fecal samples from 34 Dutch Belted (DB) and 15 New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits were cultured; and isolates were biotyped, serotyped, tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and genotyped by repetitive-element sequence-based PCR (Rep-PCR). Seven (25%) of 28 DB rabbits acquired from one commercial source were positive for EHEC, including O153:H- and O153:H7. One (9%) of 11 NZW rabbits from the same source was positive for eae-, stx1+ O153 strains. In contrast, six DB rabbits from another commercial source and four rabbits from a petting zoo were negative for EHEC. Rep-PCR demonstrated that the O153 EHEC and O145 enteropathogenic E. coli were two distinct clones. Our study indicates that rabbits are a new reservoir host of EHEC that may pose a zoonotic risk for humans.
• Subjects:
  Adhesins, Bacterial Animals Blotting, Southern Carrier Proteins Disease Reservoirs DNA, Bacterial Escherichia Coli Infections Escherichia Coli O157 Escherichia Coli Proteins Feces Food Microbiology Polymerase Chain Reaction Rabbits Research Shiga Toxin 1 Shiga Toxin 2

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• Source:
  Emerg Infect Dis. 9(12):1592-1597.
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  T32-RR07036/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United States
• Volume:
  9
• Issue:
  12
• Collection(s):
  Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:1ee04b7e74ecf34564efe081d1e3e0ce261da027fd74752dd240083851e42d6a
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/14303/cdc_14303_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 362.63 KB ]