scholarly journals Recovery and Detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Surface Water, Using Ultrafiltration and Real-Time PCR

2009 ◽  
Vol 75 (11) ◽  
pp. 3593-3597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie Mull ◽  
Vincent R. Hill

ABSTRACT Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EHEC O157:H7) outbreaks have revealed the need for improved analytical techniques for environmental samples. Ultrafiltration (UF) is increasingly recognized as an effective procedure for concentrating and recovering microbes from large volumes of water and treated wastewater. This study describes the application of hollow-fiber UF as the primary step for concentrating EHEC O157:H7 seeded into 40-liter samples of surface water, followed by an established culture/immunomagnetic-separation (IMS) method and a suite of real-time PCR assays. Three TaqMan assays were used to detect the stx1, stx2, and rfbE gene targets. The results from this study indicate that approximately 50 EHEC O157:H7 cells can be consistently recovered from a 40-liter surface water sample and detected by culture and real-time PCR. Centrifugation was investigated and shown to be a viable alternative to membrane filtration in the secondary culture/IMS step when water quality limits the volume of water that can be processed by a filter. Using multiple PCR assay sets to detect rfbE, stx1, and stx2 genes allowed for specific detection of EHEC O157:H7 from strains that do not possess all three genes. The reported sample collection and analysis procedure should be a sensitive and effective tool for detecting EHEC O157:H7 in response to outbreaks of disease associated with contaminated water.

2007 ◽  
Vol 70 (12) ◽  
pp. 2717-2724 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUNEE HIMATHONGKHAM ◽  
MARY LEE DODD ◽  
JENNY K. YEE ◽  
DAVID K. LAU ◽  
RAYMOND G. BRYANT ◽  
...  

The objective of this study was to develop a rapid, simple method for enhanced detection and isolation of low levels of Escherichia coli O157:H7 from leafy produce and surface water using recirculating immunomagnetic separation (RIMS) coupled with real-time PCR and a standard culture method. The optimal enrichment conditions for the method also were determined. Analysis of real-time PCR data (CT values) suggested that incubation of lettuce and spinach leaves rather than rinsates provides better enrichment of E. coli O157:H7. Enrichment of lettuce or spinach leaves at 42°C for 5 h provided better detection than enrichment at 37°C. Extended incubation of surface water for 20 h at 42°C did not improve the detection. The optimized enrichment conditions were also employed with modified Moore swabs, which were used to sample flowing water sites. Positive isolation rates and real-time PCR results indicated an increased recovery of E. coli O157:H7 from all samples following the application of RIMS. Under these conditions, the method provided detection and/or isolation of E. coli O157:H7 at levels as low as 0.07 CFU/g of lettuce, 0.1 CFU/g of spinach, 6 CFU/100 ml of surface water, and 9 CFU per modified Moore swab. During a 6-month field study, modified Moore swabs yielded high isolation rates when deployed in natural watershed sites. The method used in this study was effective for monitoring E. coli O157:H7 in the farm environment, during postharvest processing, and in foodborne outbreak investigations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierangeli G. Vital ◽  
Nguyen Thi Van Ha ◽  
Le Thi Hong Tuyet ◽  
Kenneth W. Widmer

Surface water samples in Vietnam were collected from the Saigon River, rural and suburban canals, and urban runoff canals in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and were processed to enumerate Escherichia coli. Quantification was done through membrane filtration and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Mean log colony-forming unit (CFU)/100 ml E. coli counts in the dry season for river/suburban canals and urban canals were log 2.8 and 3.7, respectively, using a membrane filtration method, while using Taqman quantitative real-time PCR they were log 2.4 and 2.8 for river/suburban canals and urban canals, respectively. For the wet season, data determined by the membrane filtration method in river/suburban canals and urban canals samples had mean counts of log 3.7 and 4.1, respectively. While mean log CFU/100 ml counts in the wet season using quantitative PCR were log 3 and 2, respectively. Additionally, the urban canal samples were significantly lower than those determined by conventional culture methods for the wet season. These results show that while quantitative real-time PCR can be used to determine levels of fecal indicator bacteria in surface waters, there are some limitations to its application and it may be impacted by sources of runoff based on surveyed samples.


2006 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 412-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL A. GRANT ◽  
JINXIN HU ◽  
KAREN C. JINNEMAN

A multiplex real-time PCR method was developed for detection of heat-labile and heat-stable toxin genes in enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. Approximately 10 CFU per reaction mixture could be detected in rinsates from produce samples. Several foods representative of varieties previously shown to have caused enterotoxigenic E. coli outbreaks were spiked and enriched for 4 or 6 h. Both heat-labile and heat-stable toxin genes could be detected in the foods tested, with the exception of hot sauce, with threshold cycle values ranging from 25.2 to 41.1. A procedure using membrane filtration which would allow enumeration of the enterotoxigenic E. coli population in a food sample in less than 28 h by real-time PCR analysis of colonies picked from media highly selective for E. coli was also developed.


2007 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 1366-1372 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUXIN WANG ◽  
YONG LI ◽  
AZLIN MUSTAPHA

The objective of this study was to establish a multiplex real-time PCR for the simultaneous quantitation of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and Shigella. Genomic DNA for the real-time PCR was extracted by the boiling method. Three sets of primers and corresponding TaqMan probes were designed to target these three pathogenic bacteria. Multiplex real-time PCR was performed with TaqMan Universal PCR Master Mix in an ABI Prism 7700 Sequence Detection System. Final standard curves were calculated for each pathogen by plotting the threshold cycle value against the bacterial number (log CFU per milliliter) via linear regression. With optimized conditions, the quantitative detection range of the real-time multiplex PCR for pure cultures was 102 to 109 CFU/ml for E. coli O157:H7, 103 to 109 CFU/ml for Salmonella, and 101 to 108 CFU/ml for Shigella. When the established multiplex real-time PCR system was applied to artificially contaminated ground beef, the detection limit was 105 CFU/g for E. coli O157:H7, 103 CFU/g for Salmonella, and 104 CFU/g for Shigella. Immunomagnetic separation (IMS) was further used to separate E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella from the beef samples. With the additional use of IMS, the detection limit was 103 CFU/g for both pathogens. Results from this study showed that TaqMan real-time PCR, combined with IMS, is potentially an effective method for the rapid and reliable quantitation of E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, and Shigella in food.


2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 6201-6207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Misty L. Pope ◽  
Michelle Bussen ◽  
Mary Ann Feige ◽  
Lois Shadix ◽  
Sharon Gonder ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Escherichia coli is a routinely used microbiological indicator of water quality. To determine whether holding time and storage conditions had an effect on E. coli densities in surface water, studies were conducted in three phases, encompassing 24 sites across the United States and four commonly used monitoring methods. During all three phases of the study, E. coli samples were analyzed at time 0 and at 8, 24, 30, and 48 h after sample collection. During phase 1, when 4°C samples were evaluated by Colilert or by placing a membrane onto mFC medium followed by transfer to nutrient agar containing 4-methylumbelliferyl-β-d-glucuronide (mFC/NA-MUG), three of four sites showed no significant differences throughout the 48-h study. During phase 2, five of seven sites showed no significant difference between time 0 and 24 h by membrane filtration (mFC/NA-MUG). When evaluated by the Colilert method, five of seven sites showed no significant difference in E. coli density between time 0 and 48 h. During phase 3, 8 of 13 sites showed no significant differences in E. coli densities between time 0 and the 48-h holding time, regardless of method. Based on the results of these studies, it appears that if samples are held below 10°C and are not allowed to freeze, most surface water E. coli samples analyzed by commonly used methods beyond 8 h after sample collection can generate E. coli data comparable to those generated within 8 h of sample collection. Notwithstanding this conclusion, E. coli samples collected from surface waters should always be analyzed as soon as possible.


2017 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
pp. 829-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pina M. Fratamico ◽  
Lori K. Bagi ◽  
Aisha Abdul-Wakeel

ABSTRACT Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 and serogroups O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145 are often referred to as the “top seven” STEC, and these have been declared to be adulterants in beef by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The aim of this work was to compare the methods described in the USDA FSIS Microbiology Laboratory Guidebook (MLG) to a two-stage Applied Biosystems RapidFinder STEC real-time PCR method to test for the top seven STEC in raw ground beef. The specificity of the RapidFinder workflow that targets non-O157 STEC O-antigen genes, stx1, stx2, and eae, and E. coli O157–specific targets was determined with 132 top seven STEC strains and 283 exclusion strains. All inclusion strains were positive, and all exclusion strains gave negative results with the RapidFinder assay. Strains carrying all of the known variants of stx1 and stx2, including stx2f and stx2g, were also detected. For RapidFinder analysis, 375-g ground beef samples spiked with ≥4 CFU of representative STEC strains were enriched in 1 L of tryptic soy broth (TSB) for 10 h at 42 ± 1°C, and for the MLG method, 325-g samples were similarly spiked and enriched in 975 mL of modified TSB for 15 h at 42 ± 1°C. Following DNA extraction, real-time PCR was performed using RapidFinder Express software, and for the MLG method, the BAX Real-Time PCR STEC Suite and the BAX Real-Time E. coli O157:H7 assay were used with the BAX System Q7 software. Following immunomagnetic separation, presumptive colonies from modified Rainbow agar O157 plates were confirmed by the real-time PCR assays. Results of the RapidFinder and BAX assays were similar; all samples were positive after 10 and 15 h of enrichment, respectively. Isolation and confirmation of isolates was possible on all samples, except that two O111:NM strains could not be isolated from a portion of the inoculated samples. Thus, the RapidFinder system can be used for routine and rapid detection of the top seven STEC in beef.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (12) ◽  
pp. 3550-3555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hye-Jin Lee ◽  
Byoung Chan Kim ◽  
Kyung-Woo Kim ◽  
Young Keun Kim ◽  
Jungbae Kim ◽  
...  

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