Characterization of Virulence Potential of Isolated from Bovine Meat, Fresh Fish, and Smoked Fish.

owns a variability of virulence factors. These factors can increase bacterial pathogenicity and infection severity. Despite the importance of knowledge about them, these factors are not more characterized at level of strains derived from local food products. This study aimed to characterize the virulence potential of isolated from various animal products. Several structural and virulence genes of including , and were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on 204 strains of They were isolated from bovine meat (122), fresh fish (49), and smoked fish (33). The 16S rRNA gene was detected on 91.1% of the presumptive strains as The gene showed that 99.5% of the strains were . The gene (89.2%) was the most frequently detected ( < 0.05). In decreasing importance order, (86.8%), (72.1%), (72.1%), (40.2%), and (2.5%) were detected. The gene was detected in all strains of serogroups O11 and O16. The prevalence of , and genes in these strains varied from 51.2% to 87.4%. The simultaneous determination of serogroups and virulence factors is of interest for the efficacy of surveillance of infections associated with .