Prevalence ofeae-positive, lactose non-fermentingEscherichia albertiifrom retail raw meat in China

Abstract

Escherichia albertii is a newly emerging enteric pathogen that has been associated with gastroenteritis in humans. Recently, E. albertii has also been detected in healthy and sick birds, animals, chicken meat and water. In the present study, the prevalence and characteristics of the eae-positive, lactose non-fermenting E. albertii strains in retail raw meat in China were evaluated. Thirty isolates of such strains of E. albertii were identified from 446 (6·73%) samples, including duck intestines (21·43%, 6/28), duck meat (9·52%, 2/21), chicken intestines (8·99%, 17/189), chicken meat (5·66%, 3/53), mutton meat (4·55%, 1/22) and pork meat (2·44%, 1/41). None was isolated from 92 samples of raw beef meat. Strains were identified as E. albertii by phenotypic properties, diagnostic PCR, sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene, and housekeeping genes. Five intimin subtypes were harboured by these strains. All strains possessed the II/III/V subtype group of the cdtB gene, with two strains carrying another copy of the I/IV subtype group. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed high genetic diversity of E. albertii in raw meats. Our findings indicate that E. albertii can contaminate various raw meats, posing a potential threat to public health.

Defining the Genetic Features of O-Antigen Biosynthesis Gene Cluster and Performance of an O-Antigen Serotyping Scheme for Escherichia albertii

“…Fifty-two strains were selected in the current study: type strain LMG20976 (Huys et al, 2003 ); one strain from the stool of a diarrheal patient resident in Shanghai in 2013; and 50 strains isolated from multiple sources in Zigong city of Sichuan province between 2014 and 2015 (Table 1 ). Thirty of these were also used in our previous study (Wang H. et al, 2016 ). An additional 12 strains were isolated from Luzhou city of Sichuan province in 2016 and used in an agglutination test and the development of the high throughput xTAG Luminex detection assay (Table 1 ).…”

“…E. coli O3 and O181 antisera were purchased from Statens Serum Institut (SSI, Copenhagen, Denmark) for the agglutination test. All strains were verified to be E. albertii based on the combination of 16S rDNA sequencing, diagnostic multiplex PCR, and MLST analysis as described in our previous study (Wang H. et al, 2016 ).…”

Detection of Escherichia albertii in urinary and gastrointestinal infections in Kermanshah, Iran

“…Deaths among birds are another reason for global attention to E. albertii. The bacterium has also been isolated from animals such as pigs, cats, and in some cases from environmental and food contamination (21,(31)(32)(33)(98)(99)(100). As a result, epidemiological studies should include not only the clinical level but also animal and environmental patterns such as water and food.…”

The Evasive Enemy: Insights into the Virulence and Epidemiology of the Emerging Attaching and Effacing PathogenEscherichia albertii

“…The second survey, conducted between 2010 and 2011 and restricted to avian species, also identified chickens (6.7%) and magpies (14.3%) as important reservoirs (42). In fact, multiple independent investigations conducted in the United States, Japan, and China recovered E. albertii from processed chicken, suggesting that chicken is one of the key vehicles for the transmissibility of E. albertii to humans (44)(45)(46).…”

“…Besides chicken, E. albertii has been isolated from other processed meat-based food products, including duck, mutton, and pork (46). In Norway, a presumed strain of H. alvei that possessed the eae gene was isolated from minced meat (47).…”