Prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in pigeons (Columba livia)

摘要

Wild and free-flying birds arepotential reservoirs for causes of zoonotic diseases including Shiga toxin E coli (STEC) inpigeons (Columba livia) in the western part of Iran. One hundred thirty fresh fecal samplesfrom trapped pigeons were tested for E coli 0157 on inoculated sorbitol-MacConkey (CTSMAC)plates. Confirmed colonies were then analized for Stx1 and Stx2 encoding genes byPCR. Sorbitol-negative E. coli were isolated from 20 fecal samples (15.38%) of which 7(5.38%) were positive for E. coli O157 and 1 (0.77%), for Stx2 encoding gene.