Plasmid profile of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 from apparently healthy animals

Abstract

One hundred samples from healthy animals were screened for the presence of enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli 0157: H7 and 17 were positive for EHEC 0157:H7 after confirmation using serology kits. Antibiotic susceptibility patterns showed the isolates to be highly susceptible to the various antibiotics screened with a few showing multiple antibiotic resistance. The plasmid profiles revealed that 8/17 (47%) of the animal isolates harboured detectable plasmids ranging in size from 0.564 kb to >23 kb.





Key words: Escherichia coli, EHEC, animals, plasmid profile.


African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.2(9) 2003: 322-324