Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Livestock Wildlife topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Study: cattle, feral pigs and other wildlife carry diverse STEC, including O157:H7
Summary
Researchers reported STEC in livestock and wildlife feces across the Central Coastal region; wildlife average prevalence was ~13%, O157:H7 in wildlife ~1.3%, and feral pigs had ~27% prevalence in sampled sites, with viable isolates recovered from both fresh and older feces.
Dr. Susan Leonard presented livestock and wildlife feces results from 16 livestock and 32 wildlife sampling locations across the Central Coastal region. She told the audience the team "was actually able to isolate viable STEC from both the fresh and the really old dry feces at a similar prevalence," highlighting the persistence of viable organisms in older material.
The wildlife sampling averaged about 13% STEC prevalence overall, with O157:H7 detected in roughly 1.3% of wildlife samples. Leonard highlighted particular species: bobcats, coyotes and feral pigs yielded O157:H7 isolates, with feral pigs showing about 27% prevalence in the samples collected. She cautioned that some high percentages (for example, elk at 50%) came from small sample sizes and may change as additional samples are collected.
Leonard and Case said the findings show a broad range of STEC serogroups in both livestock and wildlife and that wildlife can share strains with nearby cattle herds, a dynamic the research team explored further with whole'genome sequencing.
