Escherichia coli Genome sequencing and assembly. Escherichia coli

Shigatoxin-producing Escherichia (E.) coli (STEC) are agents of zoonotic diseases. STEC can be transmitted from (healthy) animals to human beings. The four main transmission routes include direct or indirect contact with animals, food, water and person-to-person spread through the fecal-oral route. Despite their low incidence STEC infections are considered important due to the severity of illness as bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). A German case of HUS due to STEC O157:HNM in 2015 and an outbreak of STEC O157:H7 infections affecting five young children and two adults in 2016 were investigated by the Austrian Reference Centre for E. coli including STEC. Two Austrian petting zoos, one in Tyrol (2015) and one in Vorarlberg(2016) were identified as highly likely infection sources. The evaluation of the STEC infections described here clearly underlines the potential of sequence-based typing methods to offer suitable resolutions for public health applications. Furthermore, we try to give a state-of-the-art mini-review on the risk of petting zoos concerning exposure to the zoonotic hazard STEC and on proper measures of risk-prevention.