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. 1988 Oct;101(2):327–335. doi: 10.1017/s0950268800054261

The use of sorbitol-MacConkey agar in conjunction with a specific antiserum for the detection of Vero cytotoxin-producing strains of Escherichia coli O 157.

H Kleanthous 1, N K Fry 1, H R Smith 1, R J Gross 1, B Rowe 1
PMCID: PMC2249365  PMID: 3053220

Abstract

Using DNA probes specific for the genes encoding Vero cytotoxins 1 and 2 in hybridization experiments on faecal samples, Vero cytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) of serogroup O 157 were detected in 21 of 63 cases of haemorrhagic colitis, 9 of 31 cases of non-bloody diarrhoea and 14 of 68 cases of haemolytic uraemic syndrome. Compared with these results sorbitol-MacConkey agar in conjunction with a specific O 157 antiserum gave a sensitivity of 62% in haemorrhagic colitis, 56% in non-bloody diarrhoea and 57% in haemolytic uraemic syndrome. The specificity of this method was 100% in all three groups. This demonstrates that sorbitol-MacConkey agar is a useful screening method for the detection of VTEC of serogroup O 157 when used in conjunction with a specific homologous antiserum. However, this method does not detect VTEC belonging to other serogroups and such strains were found, particularly in cases of haemolytic uraemic syndrome.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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