Colonization of Beef Cattle by Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli during the First Year of Life: A Cohort Study

Mir, Raies A.; Weppelmann, Thomas A.; Elzo, Mauricio A.; Ahn, Soohyoun; Driver, Joseph; Jeong, Kwangcheol C.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148518

Cited by 36 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Component 23 (p = 0.025) is most likely describing a protective effect of increasing age which has been previously observed 41 . It also highlights a correlation between increasing age, dirtiness and firm faeces.…”

Section: Exploring Interdependence and Covariation Using Principal Cosupporting

confidence: 57%

Socially engaged calves are more likely to be colonised by VTEC O157:H7 than individuals showing signs of poor welfare

Tamminen

Hranac

Dicksved

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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In cattle herds, the transmission and persistence of VTEC O157:H7 (a serotype of verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli-known for its life threatening complications in humans) is dependent on a small proportion of cattle who become colonised and shed high numbers of the bacteria. Reducing the proportion of these animals is considered key for decreasing the prevalence of VTEC O157:H7. In this study, observations of calf behaviour and animal-based welfare indicators were used to explore individual risk factors and underlying drivers of colonisation in Swedish dairy calves. Interdependencies between variables led to three different approaches being used to visualize and explore the associations. Combining the results of all methods revealed similar patterns and suggest that healthy animals, actively grooming and interacting with others calves in the group have a higher risk of colonisation than small dairy calves in poor condition (diarrhoea, poor ruminal fill, poor body condition score and nasal discharge). This lends no support to the hypothesis that reduced welfare is a risk factor for VTEC O157:H7, but implies that individual differences in calf behaviour affect oral exposure to the bacteria so driving the risk of colonisation. This new finding has important implications for understanding of VTEC O157:H7 transmission within farms. The zoonotic pathogen verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7 (VTEC O157:H7) causes disease and even deaths among people worldwide and Sweden is over represented, having had several major outbreaks 1-3. Many of the Swedish cases of VTEC O157:H7 are connected to strains circulating in the cattle population 2,4,5 and there are higher numbers of human cases in cattle dense areas 6. Although experimental infection with high doses of VTEC O157:H7 may cause diarrhoea in young calves 7 it is does not appear to be generally associated with disease 8 and the most significant animal reservoirs are cattle asymptomatically carrying VTEC O157:H7 in their intestines 9. The primary site of colonisation is considered to be the recto-anal junction in the terminal rectum and colonisation of this region has been associated with high levels of bacterial shedding 10-12. Shedding of more than 10 4 colony forming units (cfu) per gram has been proposed to indicate a "super-shedder" 13 and modelling has suggested that these individuals are responsible for shedding as much as 90% of total bacteria in a group 14. It has also been shown that high-level shedders increase contamination levels in the environment, on the hide of animals and increase average shedding levels of pen mates 15-17. More recent studies have questioned the focus on super-shedders and suggested that even lower shedding levels (>10 3 cfu/g faeces) are important for on farm persistence and transmission 18. In all cases, reducing the average shedding rate of animals is an important control measure for preventing transmission from cattle to humans 19,20. Although it appears that all calves can be colonised in experimental studies, usi...

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Section: Exploring Interdependence and Covariation Using Principal Cosupporting

confidence: 57%

Socially engaged calves are more likely to be colonised by VTEC O157:H7 than individuals showing signs of poor welfare

Tamminen

Hranac

Dicksved

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…In adults animals, prevalence of STEC decrease while the commensal microflora increase its diversity, possibly influenced by diet of the animals which changes as the animal weans, grows and begins to incorpore pasture, or specific diet according the production system (Mir et al, 2016). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in the Distribution of Putative Virulence and Colonization Factors in Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Isolated from Different Categories of Cattle

Cáceres

Etcheverría

Fernández

et al. 2017

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

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Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are pathogens of significant public health concern. Several studies have confirmed that cattle are the main reservoir of STEC in Argentina and other countries. Although Shiga toxins represent the primary virulence factors of STEC, the adherence and colonization of the gut are also important in the pathogenesis of the bacteria. The aim of this study was to analyze and to compare the presence of putative virulence factors codified in plasmid -katP, espP, subA, stcE- and adhesins involved in colonization of cattle -efa1, iha- in 255 native STEC strains isolated from different categories of cattle from different production systems. The most prevalent gene in all strains was espP, and the less prevalent was stcE. katP was highly detected in strains isolated from young and rearing calves (33.3%), while subA was predominant in those isolated from adults (71.21%). Strains from young calves showed the highest percentage of efa1 (72.46%), while iha showed a high distribution in strains from rearing calves and adults (87.04 and 98.48% respectively). It was observed that espP and iha were widely distributed throughout all strains, whereas katP, stcE, and efa1 were more associated with the presence of eae and subA with the eae-negative strains. A great proportion of eae-negative strains were isolated from adults -dairy and grazing farms- and from rearing calves -dairy and feedlot-, while mostly of the eae-positive strains were isolated from dairy young calves. Data exposed indicate a correlation between the category of the animal and the production systems with the presence or absence of several genes implicated in adherence and virulence of STEC.

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“…Some studies did not find the sex of the calf to be significantly associated with shedding (Mir et al 2015(Mir et al , 2016, others found that shedding was more intense in herds having many bull calves (Nielsen et al 2002) and other authors reported that higher E. coli shedding can be seen on farms that harbor female breeding cattle (Chase-Topping et al 2007). In one study, castration decreased the super-shedding of E. coli O157, which was significantly higher in bulls as compared to steers, despite the fact that the prevalence of the bacterium was comparable between the two animal groups (Jeon et al 2013).…”

Section: Cattle-specific Factors Involved In Super-sheddingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Escherichia coli, cattle and the propagation of disease

Stein

Katz

2017

FEMS Microbiology Letters

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Several early models describing host-pathogen interaction have assumed that each individual host has approximately the same likelihood of becoming infected or of infecting others. More recently, a concept that has been increasingly emphasized in many studies is that for many infectious diseases, transmission is not homogeneous but highly skewed at the level of populations. In what became known as the '20/80 rule', about 20% of the hosts in a population were found to contribute to about 80% of the transmission potential. These heterogeneities have been described for the interaction between many microorganisms and their human or animal hosts. Several epidemiological studies have reported transmission heterogeneities for Escherichia coli by cattle, a phenomenon with far-reaching agricultural, medical and public health implications. Focusing on E. coli as a case study, this paper will describe super-spreading and super-shedding by cattle, review the main factors that shape these transmission heterogeneities and examine the interface with human health. Escherichia coli super-shedding and super-spreading by cattle are shaped by microorganism-specific, cattle-specific and environmental factors. Understanding the factors that shape heterogeneities in E. coli dispersion by cattle and the implications for human health represent key components that are critical for targeted infection control initiatives.

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Colonization of Beef Cattle by Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli during the First Year of Life: A Cohort Study

Cited by 36 publications

References 31 publications

Socially engaged calves are more likely to be colonised by VTEC O157:H7 than individuals showing signs of poor welfare

Socially engaged calves are more likely to be colonised by VTEC O157:H7 than individuals showing signs of poor welfare

Variation in the Distribution of Putative Virulence and Colonization Factors in Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli Isolated from Different Categories of Cattle

Escherichia coli, cattle and the propagation of disease

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