MICROBIOLOGIC CONTROL AND SERODIAGNOSIS OF ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7 ON KINDERGARTENS? STAFF IN BUENOS AIRES CITY AND SUBURBAN AREAS

ROMINA JIMENA FERNANDEZ-BRANDO; MARIA MARTA AMARAL; ANDRES E CIOCCHINI; LETICIA V. BETANCOR; JORGE A TRELLES; MRACELO DA ROCHA; MARTIN LANDRIEL; MARIANA UGARTE; GABRIEL BRIONES; CRISTINA IBARRA; MARINA S PALERMO

MEDICINA (BUENOS AIRES)

MEDICINA (BUENOS AIRES)

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2017 vol. 77 p. 185 - 190

0025-7680

Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections are implicated in the developmentof the life-threatening hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). Despite the magnitude of the social and economic problems caused by HUS, no licensed vaccine or effective therapy is presently available for human use. At the moment, prevention of STEC infections is the most important task to reduce HUS incidence. This is especially true for Argentina because HUS incidence among children is extremely high and shows an endemic behavior. The aim of this work was to analyze serologically and microbiologically adult staff of kindergartens in Buenos Aires city and suburban area in order to detect possible carriers, and to educate personnel about good practices to reduce HUS transmission. We also assessed the microbiological quality of water and meal samples from the same kindergartens. We tested 67 healthy adults, 13 water supplies and 6 meals belonging to 6 public kindergartens. We also studied hand swabs for isolation of STEC and serum samples for the presence of antibodies against Stx and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of O157 serogroup. We identified 46 Stx2-positive individuals, but only 7 for O157 LPS. No presence of STEC pathogens was detected in hands of staff, water or meal samples.