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Survival of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli 0157 under simulated farm conditions

RECENT outbreaks ofverocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli 0157 (VTEC 0157) infections in human beings have highlighted the need to investigate more fully the epidemiology of the organism, especially its ability to survive in the farm environment. This short communication describes studies carried out to determine the survival of VTEC 0157 in bovine faeces in water and on wood, straw and breeze-block. In the first series ofexperiments, three different VTEC 0157 strains, two of bovine origin and the other a human isolate, were used to contaminate the three materials and the water. The strains were grown overnight at 37°C in buffered peptone water (BPW; Oxoid CMS09), the number oforganisms was adjusted to approximately 106 cfu/ml in phosphate buffered saline, and 150 ml were added to 300 g fresh faeces from adult cattle. Small, 10 mm wooden dowels (Black and Decker) and small pieces of aged concrete breeze blocks were then coated with 1 g portions of the VTEC 0157 contaminated faeces, and 1 g straw was mixed with 5 g of the contaminated faeces. The faeces contaminated materials were then placed in new plastic cups (mono cups),with thirteen individual samples for each material and each E coli strain, and stored in a farm building at ambient temperature. Samples of rainwater, tap water and river water were contaminated by adding 1 g amounts of the faeces to 100 ml of the water. The contaminated water was then placed in the