Prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing and enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in slaughtered camels in Iran

To investigate the prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strains in Iranian camels, E. coli strains isolated from fecal samples of 125 slaughtered camels were subjected to PCR for detection of stx1, stx2, eaeA and Ehly genes. The strains determined positive were then tested for O157:H7, O111 and O26 serotypes and bfpA gene using PCR. In addition, the intimin subtype of eaeA-positive isolates was determined by PCR-RFLP and sequencing. EPEC strains, none of which belonged to the tested serogroups, were detected in 2.4% (3 out of 125) of stool samples, whereas no STEC strain was detected. The eaeA-positive isolates were considered as atypical EPEC due to lack of bfpA gene, two of which contained beta intimin subtype. To our knowledge, this is the first molecular description of EPEC strains in camels.