الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
In this study, total of 125 chicken meats samples were examined by conventional methods. Among these samples, 62 samples were confirmed to be E. coli positive. Recovered isolates were then assayed for STEC detection (by PCR amplification of at least one stx gene and our results revealed that a total of 22 (35.48%) of examined samples were positive for STEC. These results supported pervious conclusions that could represent a vehicle for human infection that chicken meat can be reservoir for STEC. Recovered STEC isolates were characterized by using polymerase chain reaction. Our results revealed that 63.63% of samples carried stx1, 72.72% of samples carried stx2 and both alleles were present in 36.36% of examined isolates. Intimin gene was present in (18.18%) of examined isolates. STEC strains genotypes were characterized by shiga toxin encoding bacteriophage insertion site assay. Our results revealed the presence of seven genotypes among tested STEC isolates genotypes (1, 3, 8, 14, 16, 18 and 22). In conclusion, our study suggested an easy and a potential promising approach to detect virulent STEC from retail chicken meat based on PCR amplification of virulence genes (stx1, stx2, and eae). Furthermore, the diversity of SBI genotypes from isolates recovered from chicken samples suggested emergence of new SBI genotypes that might relate to human infection. Our findings suggested that sanitary condition is crucial during slaughtering or handling to avoid foodborne infection. Further studies must be performed in wide range including more isolates in different parts of the country and including human isolates in combination with food isolates is important for developing a better understanding of the distribution of STEC strains including their association with human diseases.