Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) or Shiga-toxigenic E. coli are a group of the bacteria that produce a powerful toxin to cause foodborne illness in humans, particularly the serotype E. coli O157 (pictured). It is transmitted via the faecal-oral route when food becomes contaminated with the faeces of infected animals, predominantly cattle.
Symptoms include the onset of bloody diarrhoea and it has the potential to cause infections of a more severe nature including haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), which can be fatal in the elderly and young, often causing renal failure. Rapid detection and identification of VTEC is essential in order to implement infection control and carry out vital monitoring.
Mast ISOPLEX VTEC and Mast ISOPLEX E. coli O157 are individual kits that use loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) to detect verocytotoxin-producing E. coli. Mast ISOPLEX VTEC has the ability simultaneously to detect all strains that express vt1 and vt2 in a triplex assay format with an inhibition control, while Mast ISOPLEX E. coli O157 detects E. coli O157 genes simultaneously in a duplex assay format.
