Isolation of Escherichia coli O157 from zoo animals

During a nine month survey in the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, E. c oli O157 was isolated from six out of 300 faecal samples collected from 258 mammals, 33 birds and nine reptiles. Enterohaemorrhagic E.coli O157:H7 (EH EC) strains were isolated from a horse (Equus caballus) and two primates: a ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) and a goeldi's monkey (Callimico goeldii). Atypical E. coli O157 strains, which fermented sorbitol and were beta-gluc uronidase positive, were isolated from two silvered leaf monkeys (Presbytis cristatus) and a ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta). These strains were class ified as enteropathogenic (EPEC), as they only possessed the eaeA gene as a virulence marker. With five isolations out of 48 samples, the primates can be considered a potential source of infection by E. coli O157.