Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) are strains of E. coli that can cause severe infections in humans with symptoms ranging from bloody diarrhea to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), kidney failure, and, in some cases, death. The Shiga toxin (stx) and intimin (eae) genes are the two key virulence factors that determine the severity of the infection. 

In addition to E. coli O157:H7, the most common EHEC serotype, other E. coli serogroups can also harbor stx and eae, and cause infections of equal severity. Federal agencies worldwide mandate EHEC testing for a wide range of food products, such as red meat and fresh produce for other EHEC serogroups, including O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, and O145. Therefore, it is critically important to develop one innovative and robust EHEC diagnostic method that can be used for detecting all EHEC strains spread across a large number of E. coli serogroups. 

This webinar will present data on the validation of dPCR Microbial DNA Detection Assay (QIAGEN) for characterizing E. coli strains and to develop a dPCR assay for detecting a broad range of EHEC strains.