INCIDENCE OF POTENTIALLY PATHOGENIC ESCHERICHIA COLI IN FRESH SEAFOOD IN MUMBAIPARMANAND PRABHAKAR, MANJUSHA LEKSHMI, BINAYA BHUSAN NAYAK AND SANATH KUMARAbstract Seafood samples (n=20) collected from landing centres and retail markets were tested for the presence of Escherichia coli and the resultant isolates were screened for the virulence markers associated with different pathogroups of E. coli. All (100%) samples were found contaminated with fecal coliforms, with their numbers ranging from 150 to >1.1 × 103/100 g. From all samples, a total of 329 isolates of E. coli were obtained, 175 (53.19%) of which harbored virulence genes associated with different pathogenic E. coli groups. Among these, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) were the most prevalent. STEC were isolated from 10 seafood samples, followed by enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) from 5 and enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) from 2 samples. Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) and enteroinvasive E. coli (EIEC) were isolated from one sample each. STEC isolated in this study possessed different combinations of Shiga toxin 1 (stx1), Shiga toxin 2 (stx2), intimin (eaeA) and hemolysin (hlyA) genes. This study points out at contamination of seafood with diverse types of E. coli with a combination of virulence genes commonly found in human pathogenic E. coli. The diverse types of pathogenic E. coli in seafood might represent multiple sources of contamination of seafood at various stages of harvest and post-harvest handling.
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