Hamid Irshad

Citation

Thesis Title
Molecular epidemiology of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) 0157 and non-0157 STEC in calves in the North Island of New Zealand

Read article at Massey Research Online:

Shiga toxin producing E. coli are considered important food-borne pathogens of economic and public health significance. The primary objectives of this study were to understand the molecular epidemiology of STEC in calves in the North Island of New Zealand, to examine the hypothesis that carriage of STEC is associated with level of IgG in the serum and also to compare the genotyping ability of allelic profiling with pulse field gel electrophoresis. The results of the study indicated that STECs of economic and public health significance are present in calves of the North Island of New Zealand, therefore, they may represent an important source of environmental contamination and possible human infection. There was no association between carriage of STEC and level of IgG in the serum of the calves indicating that colostrum feeding may not be effective in reducing carriage of STEC. This work also indicated that allelic profiling may be used for genotyping of E. coli isolates. 

Supervisors
Distinguished Professor Nigel French
Dr Adrian Cookson
Dr Debbie Prattley