Shiga Toxin-Producing and Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli in Animal, Foods, and Humans: Pathogenicity Mechanisms, Detection Methods, and Epidemiology

Abstract

The main Enterobacteriaceae habitat is the mammal gastrointestinal tract. In most cases, this group of species displays a symbiotic relationship with its hosts. However, some groups may be pathogenic to humans, such as Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli and enteroaggregative Escherichia coli. The presence of these groups represents a direct risk to consumers, and recent serotypes displaying the presence of pathogenic genes in both groups are a novel challenge for food production. Thus, microbiological control strategies presenting accurate detection methodologies are required. However, with the appearance of mutations among different species, knowledge, genetic monitoring, and bioinformatics techniques must be expanded. In addition, as a strategy to ensure safe products on an industrial scale, the monitoring by different techniques and fundamentals should be applied throughout the entire processing chain. Therefore, the aim of this review is to describe the pathogenesis mechanisms of different groups, mutant strain dispersion, and current and alternative epidemiological investigation methods.