Prevalence of Escherichia coli and Shiga Toxin Producing Escherichia coli in Cattle Faeces and Raw Cow Milk Sold in the Tamale Metropolis, Ghana

Abstract

Escherichia coli are commensal organisms that live in the normal flora of warmblooded animals and the serotype Escherichia coli O157:H7 are major foodborne pathogens that Inhibit the hindgut of some animals. Cattle and other domestic animals are known to be natural reservoirs of these pathogenic serotypes of E. coli. Its emergence in raw cow milk and other milk products is becoming rampant and has become a major public health concern across the globe. These bacteria can cause severe health problems in humans like diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uraemic syndrome, which have become a serious health problem in various countries. The objective of this work was to determine the prevalence rate of E. coli and Shiga Toxin producing E. coli (STEC) in cattle feaces and raw cow milk sold in the Tamale Metropolis of the Northern region. We collected 150 and 132 cattle faeces and raw cow milk sold in the markets respectively and screened them for the presence of STEC using CHROMagar STEC agar, a selective agar for the isolation of STEC. There were no STEC isolates in any of the raw cow milk samples screened but 55 faecal samples were positive for STEC of which 7 (12.7%) were suspected E. coli O157 and 48 (87.3%) were non E. coli O157. However 74 (49.3%) of the raw cow milk samples were contaminated with E. coli and other enterobacteria. Though no STEC were found in the raw cow milk, we advice that raw cow milk sold should be pasteurized before selling to the general public.