Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - [NAFEX] Was Turkeys, now E.coli O157/H7

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Was Turkeys, now E.coli O157/H7
  • Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:50:36 -0600

E.coli O157/H7 is nothing to sneeze at - it's a highly-virulent strain, and ingestion of as few as 10 viable organisms can be potentially life-threatening.

That said, it is primarily an inhabitant of the gastrointestinal tract of ruminants(cattle, sheep, goats, deer) which are being maintained on a high-grain diet - as one would encounter in a feedlot or dairy situation. Free-ranging wildlife and ruminants grazing/browsing forage materials do not have intestinal microenvironment that is hospitable toward allowing O157/H7 to be a major inhabitant.

The O157/H7 outbreak associated with CA spinach last year had a suggested link to feral swine - and O157/H7 has been show to be able to colonize and be shed from the GI tract of swine. But, in that case, the swine were presumed to have picked up that strain feeding on a dairy farm, and then being the vector for carrying the isolate, which was first identified on a dairy farm a mile away, to the spinach fields.

Personally, I'd have few concerns about running hogs or turkeys through the orchard early in the season, but like Naomi, I guess I just live on - no, on second thought, over - the edge. I'm just not worried about a little cow poop - at least not from MY cows.

For more general info on E.coli O157/H7 and livestock/wildlife, visit this page:
http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/pbs/zoonoses/O157DT104/O157DT104index.html

Lucky

Louis L. "Lucky" Pittman, Jr., DVM
Veterinary Pathologist/ Dept. Chairman
Murray St. Univ.-Breathitt Veterinary Ctr.
Hopkinsville, KY




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page