Molecular characterization of Escherichia coli O157:H7 recovered from meat and meat products relevant to human health in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Raw meat can harbor pathogenic bacteria, potentially harmful to humans such as Escherichia coli O157:H7 causing diarrhea and hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HS). Therefore, the current study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence and the molecular detection characterization of E. coli serotype O157:H7 recovered from raw meat and meat products collected from Saudi Arabia. During the period of 25th January 2013 to 25th March 2014, 370 meat samples were collected from abattoirs and markets located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia "200 raw meat samples and 170 meat products". Bacteriological analysis of the meat samples and serotyping of the isolated E. coli revealed the isolation of 11 (2.97%) strains of E. coli O157:H7. Isolation of E. coli O157:H7 in raw beef, chicken and mutton were 2%, 2.5%, and 2.5%, respectively, however, there was no occurrence in raw turkey. The incidences of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef, beef burgers, beef sausage, ground chicken and chicken burgers were 5%, 10%, 0.0%, 5% and 0.0%, respectively. The multiplex PCR assay revealed that 3 (27.27%) out of 11 E. coli O157:H7 isolates from raw beef, chicken and mutton had stx1, stx2, and eae while 5 (45.45%) E. coli O157:H7 isolates from ground beef, ground chicken, and raw beef had both stx1 and stx2. However, from beef burgers, only one E. coli O157:H7 isolate had stx1 while two were positive for hlyA gene. These results call for urgent attention toward appropriate controls and good hygienic practices in dealing with raw meat.

Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance of <i>Escherichia coli</i> O157:H7 Isolated from Raw Meat Samples of Ruminants and Poultry

“…Zarei et al (2013) [25] reported that the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in the meat samples of beef, buffalo and lamb were 2.8%, 1.4% and 0%, respectively which was entirely lower than our findings. Hessain et al (2015) [26] reported that the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in raw beef, chicken and mutton meat samples were 2%, 2.5% and 2.5%, respectively which was lower than our findings. They showed that the prevalences of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef, beef burgers, beef sausage, ground chicken and chicken burgers were 5%, 10%, 0.0%, 5% and 0.0%, respectively.…”

Prevalence and distribution of antimicrobial resistance determinants ofEscherichia coliisolates obtained from meat in South Africa

“…The result of this study agrees with the 74%, 57.9% and 43% prevalence of E. coli found from beef in South Africa, Colombia and Burkina Faso respectively [21–23]. However, a low prevalence of 1-4% and 2.8% of E. coli was reported in the city of Graz, Saudi Arabia and Amatole district of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa respectively [24,25]. Both studies mainly focused on E. coli O157: H7, hence the differences in both studies could easily be explained given the very low levels of prevalence of E .…”

Incidence and Profiles of Antibiotic Resistance and Virulence Markers of The Escherichia coli O157 Bacteria Recovered From Poultry Meat

“…Xia et al [18] conveyed the higher incidence (23.50%) of E. coliin turkey meat samples. Furthermore, boost incidence of E. coli O157 in meat samples was reported by Hossain et al [19] (Saudi Arabia) (2-10%), De Giusti et al [20] (Italy) (2.61%), Momtaz et al [5] (Iran) (25-36%) and Ranjbar et al [3] (Iran) (25-34%). The incidence of E. coli O157 in meat samples demonstrated to be changeable in various areas owing to variation in number of livestock, season of sampling, hygienic circumstances in each farm, levels of farm management, sampling oddness, discrepancy in kind of samples, and departure in methods of pathogenic detection.…”