HUMAN ESCHERICHIA-COLI O157-H7 INFECTION ASSOCIATED WITH THE CONSUMPTION OF UNPASTEURIZED GOATS MILK

A cluster of four cases of haemolytic uraemic syndrome in children occ urred in Northern Bohemia, Czech Republic, between 15 June and 7 July, 1995. All the cases had significantly elevated titres of anti-O157 li popolysaccharide (LPS) antibodies as detected by the indirect haemaggl utination assay, All but one of them had drunk unpasteurized goat's mi lk from the same farm within the week before the disease. Evidence of E. coil O157 infection was subsequently found in 5 of 15 regular drink ers of the farm's raw goat's milk; four of them were asymptomatic, 1 h ad mild diarrhoea at the end of June. Verocytotoxin 2-producing E. col i O157:H7 strains of phage type 2 and of identical pulsed-held gel ele ctrophoresis patterns were isolated from 1 of 2 farm goats and from 1 of the asymptomatic goat's milk drinkers. The frequency of anti-O157 L PS antibodies found among regular drinkers of the farm's raw goat's mi lk (33%; 5 of 15) was significantly higher than that found in control population (0%; none of 45) (P = 0.0005; Fisher's exact test). Our fin dings indicate that goats may be a reservoir of E. coli O157:H7 and a source of the infection for humans; raw goat's milk may serve as a veh icle of the pathogen transmission.