Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on July 24, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Letters
RESEARCH
E coli prevalence study among finishing cattle in the UK MANY colleagues will be aware of the importance of verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) O157 in terms of the risk it poses to human health. The organism is a commensal of cattle and can be transmitted to people through contaminated foodstuffs as well as through contact with cattle and their environment. It is also possible for VTEC O157 to remain infective in soil for several months. A programme of work led by the Roslin Institute is being funded by the Food Standards Agency (FS101055) to improve the understanding of why some cattle shed high numbers of VTEC O157 and to investigate intervention strategies to mitigate the risk that this poses. The Epidemiology Research Unit of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC, formerly SAC), together with ADAS and the University of Edinburgh, would like to inform colleagues involved in farm animal practice in Great Britain of an E coli O157 prevalence survey, which forms part of this programme of work. This survey will commence in September 2014 and continue until the end of December 2015. The objective of the survey is to determine the proportion of British farms, which have finishing cattle, on which at least one finishing animal is found to be shedding E coli O157 in its faeces. SRUC and ADAS personnel will be visiting farms in Scotland, England and Wales. They will be collecting faecal samples from cattle enclosures (both indoor housing and pasture) as dictated by the season of sampling and farm type. Faecal pat samples will be collected, so no direct handling of animals will be 208 | Veterinary Record | August 30, 2014
necessary for sampling purposes. At the time of sampling a farm management questionnaire will also be completed. In Scotland, our target population will be a randomly selected subset of farms that participated in two previous prevalence surveys between 1998 and 2004 (Gunn and others 2007, Pearce and others 2009). In England and Wales, a random sample of farms with finishing cattle will be recruited. Participation will be voluntary and the confidentiality of results will be maintained. The samples collected will be examined to establish the presence or absence of VTEC O157. The phage type of positive isolates will be identified at the Scottish E coli Reference Laboratory. This work will indicate the prevalence of the organism on farms with finishing cattle and also identify those phage types that are more common among cattle isolates. Comparison with isolates from human cases of VTEC infection will allow us to evaluate the role of cattle VTEC strains in human illness; this will inform the development of public health risk mitigation measures.
Any queries relating to this work can be directed to Madeleine Henry using the contact details below. Madeleine K. Henry, Sue C. Tongue, George J. Gunn, Epidemiology Research Unit, SRUC Drummondhill, Stratherrick Road, Inverness IV2 4JZ e-mail: [email protected] telephone: 01463 246072 01463 246060
References
GUNN, G. J., MCKENDRICK, I. J., TERNENT, H. E., THOMSON-CARTER, F., FOSTER, G. & SYNGE, B. A. (2007) An investigation of factors associated with the prevalence of verocytoxin producing Escherichia coli O157 shedding in Scottish beef cattle. Veterinary Journal 174, 554-564 PEARCE, M. C., CHASE-TOPPING, M. E., MCKENDRICK, I. J., MELLOR, D. J., LOCKING, M. E., ALLISON, L. & OTHERS (2009) Temporal and spatial patterns of bovine Escherichia coli O157 prevalence and comparison of temporal changes in the patterns of phage types associated with bovine shedding and human E coli O157 cases in Scotland between 1998–2000 and 2002–2004. BMC Microbiology 9, 276
doi: 10.1136/vr.g5328
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on July 24, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
E coli prevalence study among finishing cattle in the UK Madeleine K. Henry, Sue C. Tongue and George J. Gunn Veterinary Record 2014 175: 208
doi: 10.1136/vr.g5328 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/8/208
These include:
References Email alerting service
This article cites 2 articles, 0 of which you can access for free at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/8/208#BIBL Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
Letters
RESEARCH
E coli prevalence study among finishing cattle in the UK MANY colleagues will be aware of the importance of verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) O157 in terms of the risk it poses to human health. The organism is a commensal of cattle and can be transmitted to people through contaminated foodstuffs as well as through contact with cattle and their environment. It is also possible for VTEC O157 to remain infective in soil for several months. A programme of work led by the Roslin Institute is being funded by the Food Standards Agency (FS101055) to improve the understanding of why some cattle shed high numbers of VTEC O157 and to investigate intervention strategies to mitigate the risk that this poses. The Epidemiology Research Unit of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC, formerly SAC), together with ADAS and the University of Edinburgh, would like to inform colleagues involved in farm animal practice in Great Britain of an E coli O157 prevalence survey, which forms part of this programme of work. This survey will commence in September 2014 and continue until the end of December 2015. The objective of the survey is to determine the proportion of British farms, which have finishing cattle, on which at least one finishing animal is found to be shedding E coli O157 in its faeces. SRUC and ADAS personnel will be visiting farms in Scotland, England and Wales. They will be collecting faecal samples from cattle enclosures (both indoor housing and pasture) as dictated by the season of sampling and farm type. Faecal pat samples will be collected, so no direct handling of animals will be 208 | Veterinary Record | August 30, 2014
necessary for sampling purposes. At the time of sampling a farm management questionnaire will also be completed. In Scotland, our target population will be a randomly selected subset of farms that participated in two previous prevalence surveys between 1998 and 2004 (Gunn and others 2007, Pearce and others 2009). In England and Wales, a random sample of farms with finishing cattle will be recruited. Participation will be voluntary and the confidentiality of results will be maintained. The samples collected will be examined to establish the presence or absence of VTEC O157. The phage type of positive isolates will be identified at the Scottish E coli Reference Laboratory. This work will indicate the prevalence of the organism on farms with finishing cattle and also identify those phage types that are more common among cattle isolates. Comparison with isolates from human cases of VTEC infection will allow us to evaluate the role of cattle VTEC strains in human illness; this will inform the development of public health risk mitigation measures.
Any queries relating to this work can be directed to Madeleine Henry using the contact details below. Madeleine K. Henry, Sue C. Tongue, George J. Gunn, Epidemiology Research Unit, SRUC Drummondhill, Stratherrick Road, Inverness IV2 4JZ e-mail: [email protected] telephone: 01463 246072 01463 246060
References
GUNN, G. J., MCKENDRICK, I. J., TERNENT, H. E., THOMSON-CARTER, F., FOSTER, G. & SYNGE, B. A. (2007) An investigation of factors associated with the prevalence of verocytoxin producing Escherichia coli O157 shedding in Scottish beef cattle. Veterinary Journal 174, 554-564 PEARCE, M. C., CHASE-TOPPING, M. E., MCKENDRICK, I. J., MELLOR, D. J., LOCKING, M. E., ALLISON, L. & OTHERS (2009) Temporal and spatial patterns of bovine Escherichia coli O157 prevalence and comparison of temporal changes in the patterns of phage types associated with bovine shedding and human E coli O157 cases in Scotland between 1998–2000 and 2002–2004. BMC Microbiology 9, 276
doi: 10.1136/vr.g5328
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on July 24, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
E coli prevalence study among finishing cattle in the UK Madeleine K. Henry, Sue C. Tongue and George J. Gunn Veterinary Record 2014 175: 208
doi: 10.1136/vr.g5328 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/8/208
These include:
References Email alerting service
This article cites 2 articles, 0 of which you can access for free at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/175/8/208#BIBL Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
