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Background: Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are among common foodborne bacterial pathogens and healthy livestock are the main source of this bacterium. Severe diseases attribute to two types of cytotoxin Stx1 and Stx2, which are also called Shiga toxin (Stx). Infection of humans with STEC may result in Acute diarrhea with or without bleeding, hemorrhagic colitis (HC) and the hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). As antibiotic resistance is increasingly being reported among STEC isolates obtained from livestock and patients worldwide, in this study the pattern of antibiotic resistance in clinical isolates was determined., Methods: Stool samples were collected from patients with diarrhea. All samples were cultured and identified by biochemical and molecular tests. Antimicrobial susceptibility test and assessment of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-related genes were conducted. Moreover, phylogenetic groups were analyzed using quadruplex PCR, and DNA analysis assessed multi-locus sequence types (MLST)., Results: Out of 340 E. coli samples, 174 were identified as STEC by PCR. Antimicrobial susceptibility test results showed that, 99.4%, 96% and 93.1% of isolates were susceptible to imipenem/ertapenem, piperacillin-tazobactam and amikacin, respectively. The highest resistance was towards ampicillin (68.4%), followed by trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (59.8%), and tetracycline (57.5%). A total of 106 (60.9%) isolates were multidrug resistance (MDR) and 40.8% of isolates were determined to be extended spectrum β-lactamase producers. In 94.4% of isolates, genes responsible for ESBL production could be detected, and blaTEM was the most prevalent, followed by blaCTX-M9. Furthermore, phylogenetic grouping revealed that majority of STEC strains belonged to Group C, followed by Groups E, B2 and A. MLST unveiled diverse ST types., Conclusion: A periodical surveillance studies and thorough understanding of antibiotic resistant profiles in STEC isolates could help select effective antibiotic treatment for patients and develop strategies to effectively manage food contamination and human infections.

Nomadic populations do not have permanent settlements as they move their livestock between grazing areas in different seasons; such movements may have great impact on dissemination of food-borne pathogens in various regions. The aim of this study was to characterize Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains as a food-borne pathogen in sheep and goats of Bakhtiari pastoral tribe in Iran. In the present study, 72 fecal samples were obtained from 26 sheep and 46 goats. First, all recovered E. coli isolates were screened for stx gene. After detection of stx-positive isolates, the virulence genes including stx1, stx2, eae, ehly, saa, astA, subAB, terD, and the genetic markers of O Island 57 (Z2098 and Z2099) were investigated. Also fifteen important STEC O-serogroups were determined using PCR assays. Results showed that 27 animals (27/72; 37.5%) carried STEC strains including 16/26 (61.6%) sheep and 11/46 (23.9%) goats. All STECs were eae-negative but 81.4% (22/27) were positive for saa. The most prevalent virulence profile was stx1/stx2/ehly/saa/subAB (37%; 10/27). Most STECs (24/27) were positive for at least one of the selected OI-57 markers. The O91 (n = 6), O5 (n = 3), O113 (n = 1), O128 (n = 1), and O104 (n = 1) were the detected O-serogroups in this study. It is concluded that such moving animal populations could have public health concerns which have to be addressed in the future.

The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence, antibiotic resistance, presence of class 1 and 2 integrons, Extended Spectrum β-Lactamases (ESBL) genes, phylogenetic group and epidemiological relationships of EPEC, ETEC and EHEC pathotypes isolated from patients with diarrhea and farm animals in south east region of Iran. A total of 671 diarrheagenic E. coli (DEC) were collected from stool samples of 395 patients with diarrhea and 276 farm cattles and goats. Presence of EPEC, ETEC and EHEC were identified using multiplex-PCR employing primers targeted the shiga toxin (stx), intimin (eae), bundle forming pili (bfp), and enterotoxins (lt and st) genes. The highest proportion of the patients (64%) were children under age 1-15 year (p ≤ 0.05). Among the isolates, atypical EPEC was detected in 26 patients and 14 animal stool samples, while typical EPEC was found in 2 cattles. ETEC isolates were detected in stools of 13 patients and 4 EHEC was identified in 3 goats and one cattle. The isolates were checked for susceptibility to 14 antibiotics. 50% (n = 13) of EPEC and 61.5% (n =8) of ETEC showed multi-drug resistance (MDR) profiles and one EPEC was found to be extensive drug resistant (XDR). In contrast, EHEC isolates were susceptible to the majority of antimicrobial agents. The MDR isolates were positive for bla TEM and bla CTX-M ESBL genes and carried class 1 integrons. Further study on the biofilm formation indicated that, 3 out of 4 EHEC isolates showed strong biofilm, while other pathotypes had either moderate, weak or no biofilm activity. Majority of EPEC isolates were belonged to phylogenetic group B1, all except one ETEC were classified as phylogenetic group A and two EHEC were belonged to phylogroup D, respectively. A multilocus variable tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) exhibited 22 distinct patterns. In conclusion, MLVA data showed high clonal diversity. Presence of EHEC in animal origins pose public health concern in this region., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

STEC isolates and also stx-negative Escherichia coli isolates from sheep meat from the Chaharmahal-va-Bakhtiari province, Iran were analyzed for nine clinically important non-O157 serotypes by PCR. A total of 90 E. coli isolates were tested. Stx-positive and eae-positive E. coli isolates did not belong to the nine most clinically relevant non-O157 STECs. Of the 80 non-STEC isolates, two belonged to the O103 and two belonged to the O128 groups. Stx-negative E. coli O103 and O128 strains isolated have potential in acquiring stx genes and continuing into the digestive system of consumers. Further studies are needed to analyze virulence characteristics of these E. coli strains to determine their potential role in causing disease in humans. For the sake of public health, it is important to monitor and investigate non-O157 diarrheagenic E. coli strains in meat in order to control and prevent them., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Two hundred and four Escherichia coli strains were isolated from external and visceral cavity surfaces of 102 slaughtered broiler carcasses. The isolates were screened to determine the phylogenetic background and presence of Shiga toxins (stx1, stx2), intimin (eae) and beta-lactamase (blaTEM, blaSHV) genes. Phylotyping results revealed that the E. coli isolates segregated in four phylogenetic groups A (56.86%), B1 (19.12%), B2 (4.90%) and D (19.12%). PCR assays revealed that 13 isolates (6.37%) from 12 carcasses were positive for eae (12 isolates) and/or stx2 (2) genes. The eae positive isolates belonged to phylogenetic groups A (A0, A1), B1, B2 (B22) and D (D2). Two stx2 positive and seven eae positive isolates were recovered from visceral cavity surface, whereas only 5 eae positive isolates were from the external surface of the carcasses. On the other hand, thirty one E. coli strains isolated from visceral cavity and external surface of 26 carcasses carried the blaTEM (27) and blaSHV (4) genes and belonged to different phylo-groups. This study suggests that broiler carcasses could be considered as an important source of EPEC and STEC pathotypes in southeast of Iran; as well as the examined antibiotic resistance genes, which were carried by some isolates and could be transferred to pathogens through the food chain., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The present study was performed to investigate the contribution of typical and atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) as a cause of infectious diarrhoea among children less than 10 years old in Iran. During the summer months, 247 specimens from children with diarrhoea and 1108 from asymptomatic children were analysed for the presence of EPEC and other bacterial pathogens. Potential enteric pathogens were identified in 140 cases of children with diarrhoea (56.7%). EPEC was the most frequently identified agent (111 cases), followed by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (13), Shigella (9), Salmonella (6) and Aeromonas sp. (1). EPEC isolates were examined for the presence of eaeA, bfpA and stx genes by PCR. EPEC isolates were classified as typical (eaeA+ bfpA+) or atypical (eaeA+ bfpA-). Typical EPEC was diagnosed in 35 cases (11.8%), compared with 8 (0.4%) in the asymptomatic group (P<0.05). Atypical EPEC strains were isolated from 23 cases (9.3%), compared with 13 (1.2%) of the healthy control group (P<0.05). In conclusion, the data suggest that typical and atypical EPEC are an important cause of diarrhoea in Iranian children.