1999 Volume 73 Issue 3 Pages 213-217
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is an emerged bacterial agent as the cause of bloody diarrhea and a leading cause of hemolytic uremic syndrome in children. In our country, serotype O 157: H7is the predominant pathogen in the EHEC and the most frequently seen in human infections. The clinical disease is not associated with the STx types produced by the infecting strains. Non-O157serotypes of EHEC also produce STxs, and infections with some non-O157EHEC are occasionally associated with the illness caused by O157: H7.
A rapid and simple enzyme immunoassay method (EIA) for the detection of STxs was established. This method is based on the use of anti-STxl or anti-STx2monoclonal antibody-labelled colloidal gold for detective factor and also used each anti-STx antibody for the capture antibody. The supernatant was used as the test sample after centrifugation of bacterial suspension treated with polymixin B (5, 000u/ml). These EIA-tests were specific for all supernatants of EHEC serotypes used, giving positive reactions (more than1: 16-32) by the RPLA method, and permitted the detection of ca. 203-812pg of STxl or STx2in a130μl applied to this test. This method will be an extremely useful tool for the detection of STxs from isolates or bacteria on selective agar-plates.
