Analysis of Escherichia coli O157:H7 survival in ovine or bovine manure and manure slurry.

Farm animal manure or manure slurry may disseminate, transmit, or propagate Escherichia coli O157:H7. In this study, the survival and growth of E. coli O157:H7 in ovine or bovine feces under various experimental and environmental conditions were determined. A manure pile collected from experimentally inoculated sheep was incubated outside under fluctuating environmental conditions. E. coli O157:H7 survived in the manure for 21 months, and the concentrations of bacteria recovered ranged from <10(2) to 10(6) CFU/g at different times over the course of the experiment. The DNA fingerprints of E. coli O157:H7 isolated at month 1 and month 12 were identical or very similar. A second E. coli O157:H7-positive ovine manure pile, which was periodically aerated by mixing, remained culture positive for 4 months. An E. coli O157:H7-positive bovine manure pile was culture positive for 47 days. In the laboratory, E. coli O157:H7 was inoculated into feces, untreated slurry, or treated slurry and incubated at -20, 4, 23, 37, 45, and 70 degreesC. E. coli O157:H7 survived best in manure incubated without aeration at temperatures below 23 degreesC, but it usually survived for shorter periods of time than it survived in manure held in the environment. The bacterium survived at least 100 days in bovine manure frozen at -20 degreesC or in ovine manure incubated at 4 or 10 degreesC for 100 days, but under all other conditions the length of time that it survived ranged from 24 h to 40 days. In addition, we found that the Shiga toxin type 1 and 2 genes in E. coli O157:H7 had little or no influence on bacterial survival in manure or manure slurry. The long-term survival of E. coli O157:H7 in manure emphasizes the need for appropriate farm waste management to curtail environmental spread of this bacterium. This study also highlights the difficulties in extrapolating laboratory data to on-farm conditions.