Table 2.

Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) pathogroups present in the animal feces, based on the detection of their virulence genes by PCR

	Number of DEC, n (%)
DEC pathogroups	Cattle (n = 304)	Chickens (n = 350)	Pigs (n = 50)	Total (n = 704)
Any DEC	145 (48)	169 (48)	34 (68)	348 (49)
STEC	112 (37)	22 (6)	15 (30)	149 (21)
EPEC	25 (8)	131 (37)	16 (32)	172 (24)
ETEC	12 (4)	19 (5)	9 (18)	40 (6)
EAEC	22 (7)	20 (6)	16 (32)	58 (8)
EIEC	0	5 (1)	0	5 (1)

A DEC-positive sample may contain virulence genes of several pathogroups.