Genotypic Study of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Isolated from Stool Samples of Humans and Cattle

The main objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of E.coli O157:H7 in humans and cattle in province of Missan , and determine the genotypic relationship between the both isolates by PCR assay ,to achieve this goal, 198 human stools were collected from patients suffering from bloody and non-bloody diarrhea and urinary tract infections ,both genders, and variable age, during the period from the middle of October 2013 to middle of February 2014 in the province of Missan, also at the same period, 54 cattle fecal samples and 59 mucosal gallbladder swabs were collected from cattle slaughtering in Missan abattoir. The samples were cultured aerobically on routine media and selective media at 37C for 24-48hrs,then the isolates were identified by biochemical tests and Api 20E test and they were confirmed diagnosis by PCR assay. The results showed that 10(5%) out of 198 human stools samples were E.coli O157:H7 positive and 9(16.6%) out of 54 and 1(1.75) out of 59 of fecal samples and gallbladder swabs of cattle respectively were positive E.coli O157:H7 . PCR assay revealed that both human and cattle bacterial isolates expressed rfbO157 and flicH7 genes as well as stx1 and stx2 genes.