Isolation and characterization of Escherichia coli 0157 from retail beef and bovine feces in Thailand

Antibody to Escherichia coli O157 lipopolysaccharide was detected in the se ra of healthy individuals more frequently in Southern Thailand than in Japa n. The result suggested possible exposure of Thai people to E. coli O157. E . coli O157:H7 or O157:H- was isolated from four of 95 retail beef and one of 55 bovine feces samples collected in Southern Thailand by enrichment cul ture followed by immunomagnetic bead separation. Four of the five strains c arried the stx(2) gene alone or in combination with the stx(1) gene. The st rains were shown to be genetically distinct by an arbitrarily primed PCR me thod. (C) 2000 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.