Widgren Stefan, Eriksson Erik, Aspan Anna, Emanuelson Ulf, Alenius Stefan, Lindberg Ann
National Veterinary Institute, Zoonoscenter, Uppsala, Sweden.
J Vet Diagn Invest. 2013 Mar;25(2):189-98. doi: 10.1177/1040638712474814. Epub 2013 Feb 12.
Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 is a zoonotic bacterial pathogen capable of causing severe disease in human beings. Cattle are considered to be the main reservoir of the bacterium. The objective of the current study was to compare environmental sampling (consisting of dust, overshoe, and pooled pat samples) with pooled, individual fecal sampling for determining the cattle herd status under field conditions in naturally infected dairy herds. Thirty-one dairy cattle farms in Sweden, where verotoxigenic E. coli O157:H7 had been previously detected, were visited. On each farm, dust, overshoe, and pooled pat sampling were performed in each of 3 different age categories: calves, young stock, and adults. In addition, up to 140 individual fecal samples were collected and analyzed as pooled samples. In total, 3,763 individual fecal and 270 environmental samples were collected and analyzed for the presence of verotoxigenic E. coli O157:H7. Overshoe sampling, alone or in combination with dust and pooled pat sampling, correctly classified 20 of the 24 (0.83, 95% CI: 0.63-0.95) herds detected with at least 1 positive pool. On 1 farm, a dust sample was positive although all other samples were negative. In 6 of the 31 farms, the bacteria could not be detected in any of the individual fecal samples or in the environmental samples. The results establish that environmental sampling is a reliable method for identifying cattle herds with animals shedding verotoxigenic E. coli O157:H7.
产志贺毒素大肠杆菌O157:H7是一种人畜共患的细菌病原体，可导致人类严重疾病。牛被认为是该细菌的主要宿主。本研究的目的是比较环境采样（包括灰尘、鞋套和混合粪便样本）与个体粪便混合采样，以确定自然感染奶牛场田间条件下牛群的感染状况。研究人员走访了瑞典31个曾检测出产志贺毒素大肠杆菌O157:H7的奶牛场。在每个农场，对犊牛、青年牛和成年牛这3个不同年龄组分别进行灰尘、鞋套和混合粪便采样。此外，还收集了多达140份个体粪便样本并作为混合样本进行分析。总共收集并分析了3763份个体粪便样本和270份环境样本，以检测产志贺毒素大肠杆菌O157:H7的存在。鞋套采样单独或与灰尘和混合粪便采样相结合，正确分类了24个至少有1个阳性混合样本的牛群中的20个（0.83，95%可信区间：0.63 - 0.95）。在1个农场，尽管所有其他样本均为阴性，但灰尘样本呈阳性。在31个农场中的6个农场，在任何个体粪便样本或环境样本中均未检测到该细菌。结果表明，环境采样是识别有产志贺毒素大肠杆菌O157:H7排菌动物的牛群的可靠方法。
