TY - JOUR
T1 - Zoonotic potential of Escherichia coli isolates from retail chicken meat products and eggs
AU - Mitchell, Natalie M.
AU - Johnson, James R.
AU - Johnston, Brian
AU - Curtiss, Roy
AU - Mellata, Melha
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, American Society for Microbiology.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Chicken products are suspected as a source of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC), which causes diseases in humans. The zoonotic risk to humans from chicken-source E. coli is not fully elucidated. To clarify the zoonotic risk posed by Ex-PEC in chicken products and to fill existing knowledge gaps regarding ExPEC zoonosis, we evaluated the prevalence of ExPEC on shell eggs and compared virulence-associated phenotypes between ExPEC and non-ExPEC isolates from both chicken meat and eggs. The prevalence of ExPEC among egg-source isolates was low, i.e., 5/108 (4.7%). Based on combined genotypic and phenotypic screening results, multiple human and avian pathotypes were represented among the chicken-source ExPEC isolates, including avian-pathogenic E. coli (APEC), uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), neonatal meningitis E. coli (NMEC), and sepsis-associated E. coli (SEPEC), as well as an undefined ExPEC group, which included isolates with fewer virulence factors than the APEC, UPEC, and NMEC isolates. These findings document a substantial prevalence of human-pathogenic ExPEC-associated genes and phenotypes among E. coli isolates from retail chicken products and identify key virulence traits that could be used for screening.
AB - Chicken products are suspected as a source of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC), which causes diseases in humans. The zoonotic risk to humans from chicken-source E. coli is not fully elucidated. To clarify the zoonotic risk posed by Ex-PEC in chicken products and to fill existing knowledge gaps regarding ExPEC zoonosis, we evaluated the prevalence of ExPEC on shell eggs and compared virulence-associated phenotypes between ExPEC and non-ExPEC isolates from both chicken meat and eggs. The prevalence of ExPEC among egg-source isolates was low, i.e., 5/108 (4.7%). Based on combined genotypic and phenotypic screening results, multiple human and avian pathotypes were represented among the chicken-source ExPEC isolates, including avian-pathogenic E. coli (APEC), uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), neonatal meningitis E. coli (NMEC), and sepsis-associated E. coli (SEPEC), as well as an undefined ExPEC group, which included isolates with fewer virulence factors than the APEC, UPEC, and NMEC isolates. These findings document a substantial prevalence of human-pathogenic ExPEC-associated genes and phenotypes among E. coli isolates from retail chicken products and identify key virulence traits that could be used for screening.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84921419346&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84921419346&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1128/AEM.03524-14
DO - 10.1128/AEM.03524-14
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84921419346
SN - 0099-2240
VL - 81
SP - 1177
EP - 1187
JO - Applied and environmental microbiology
JF - Applied and environmental microbiology
IS - 3
ER -