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Updated: Jul 29, 2026
Detection of Live Escherichia coli O157:H7 Cells by PMA-qPCR
Published on: February 1, 2014
Enumeration of Escherichia coli O157 in cattle faeces using most probable number technique and automated
N Fegan1, G Higgs, P Vanderlinde
1Microbiology Section, Food Science Australia, Cannon Hill, Australia. narelle.fegan@foodscience.afisc.csiro.au
Aims:
To determine the numbers of Escherichia coli O157 present in the faeces of naturally infected cattle.
Methods And Results:
A combination of the most probable number (MPN) technique and automated immunomagnetic separation (AIMS) was used to enumerate E. coli O157 in cattle faeces from both pasture-fed and grain-fed animals. A total of 22 E. coli O157 positive faecal samples were enumerated for E. coli O157 (10 from pasture-fed and 12 from grain-fed animals). The numbers of E. coli O157 in cattle faeces varied from undetectable (<3 MPN g-1 of faeces) to 2.4 x 104 MPN g-1. There was no significant difference (P = 0.06) between the numbers of E. coli O157 in pasture-fed or grain-fed cattle faeces, although the geometric mean (antilog of the mean of log10 transformed MPN values) was higher in grain-fed (130 MPN g-1) than in pasture-fed (13 MPN g-1).
Conclusions:
Although the number of samples tested is small, the results indicate that E. coli O157 make up a small proportion of the total E. coli population present in cattle faeces.
Significance And Impact Of The Study:
Information on the numbers of E. coli O157 present in cattle will assist in developing more robust quantitative risk assessments and formulating intervention strategies.
