Plasmid profile of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 from apparently healthy animals

Abstract

One hundred samples from healthy animals were screened for the presence of enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia 
coli 0157: H7 and 17 were positive for EHEC 0157:H7 after confirmation using serology kits. Antibiotic 
susceptibility patterns showed the isolates to be highly susceptible to the various antibiotics screened with a 
few showing multiple antibiotic resistance. The plasmid profiles revealed that 8/17 (47%) of the animal isolates 
harboured detectable plasmids ranging in size from 0.564 kb to >23 kb.