Occurrence of Escherichia coli in Wildlife from Different Habitats of Sarawak, Malaysia

Abstract

This study was carried out to assess the occurrence of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in the bats, birds and rodents asrepresentative of wildlife from different habitats in Sibu and Kapit, Sarawak, Malaysia. A total of 682 swabsamples were collected from wildlife hosts and screened for the bacteria E. coli and E. coli O157:H7 usingstandard microbiological methods and molecular techniques. The overall occurrence rates of E. coli among thesehosts were 14%, 17% and 54% for bats, birds and rodents, respectively. The occurrence of E. coli was thehighest in rodents regardless of the habitats. Isolated E. coli were then screened for E. coli O157:H7 by using amultiplex PCR with four primer pairs targeting for Shiga toxin producing genes (slt-I and slt-II), and the genesinvolved in biosynthesis of O157 antigen (rfbE) and H7 antigen (fliCH7 ). slt-I, slt-II and rfbE genes were notdetected in any of the E. coli isolates. However, the gene encoding for H7 antigen was detected in 23 E. coliisolates. This indicated that E. coli O157:H7 strain was not detected in the wildlife studied. Absence of E. coliO157:H7 in the wildlife studied indicated these wild animals do not serve as an important reservoir of E. coliO157:H7. However, precautions have to be taken as other group of pathogenic E. coli may pose a zoonotic riskfor humans and other animals.