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Page No. : 93–99

ABSTRACT

A total of 400 chicken eggs comprising 200 from poultry farms and 200 from marketing channels were collected and screened for the presence of E. coli. Out of these, 29.75% (119 of 400) were found positive for E. coli. Among the chicken eggs from poultry farms and marketing channels, 8.75% (35 of 400) and 21% (84 of 400) eggs were positive for E. coli, respectively. The isolates belonged to 44 different serotypes. Among the 119 E. coli positive eggs, 47.06% eggs had shell surface contamination, 34.45% eggs were contaminated only in their yolk contents and 18.49% had both shell surface as well as yolk contamination. The result of PCR revealed that among 119 E. coli, 40 were positive for verotoxin gene (VT). Of these 40 VT positive strains, 87.5% (35 of 40) and 12.5% (5 of 40) were positive for VT1 and VT2, respectively. The results revealed that chicken eggs can also be the source of verotoxic E. coli infection and the incidence of E. coli was higher on egg shell surface as compared to egg contents.

Keywords: Escherichia coli, eggs, polymerase chain reaction, VTEC