Thermo Fisher Scientific Increases Production of Screening Solutions in Response to E. coli Crisis in Europe

Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, has responded to the E. coli O104 crisis in Europe by increasing production and distribution of its Brilliance™ ESBL Agar plate, a chromogenic screening plate for the detection of Extended Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-producing (ESBL) organisms, such as the outbreak strain, within 24 hours.

With worldwide concern over E. coli O104, food microbiologists need to ensure that they can detect enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) in foods, water and food processing environments in order to prevent, investigate or combat outbreaks of EHEC-related food poisoning. The current outbreak highlights the importance of rapid and reliable identification of EHEC, which cause bloody diarrhoea and haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), for the assurance of food safety. This large outbreak is unusual in several other ways. Historically, most outbreaks of HUS have been associated with E. coli O157, but the current outbreak strain belongs to the E. coli O104 serogroup.

The causative strain produces Shiga toxin 2 and shows high resistance to 3rd generation cephalosporins (due to ESBL resistance mechanism), as well as broad antimicrobial resistance to, among others, trimethoprim/sulphonamide and tetracycline (ref 1.). Media to detect ESBL are among the methods recommended when screening for the outbreak strain.

When undertaking identification of the outbreak strain from food samples, by using Oxoid and Remel products (Thermo Fisher Scientific), you have the reassurance of products that have been developed by scientists with a heritage in microbiology. Our range includes:

• Culture on Oxoid Brilliance ESBL Agar can help determine the resistance status of an isolate

• Enrichment in Oxoid Modified Tryptone Soya Broth with Novobiocin, Oxoid E.C. Broth with or without reduced bile salts or Oxoid Buffered Peptone Water supplemented with antibiotics

• Isolation media such as Oxoid MacConkey Agar

• Toxin detection using the Oxoid VTEC-RPLA kit, following growth on Oxoid Brain Heart Infusion Agar
• Antimicrobial susceptibility testing on Oxoid Iso-Sensitest Agar or Mueller-Hinton Agar with cefpodoxime combination discs. Culture on Oxoid Brilliance ESBL Agar can also help determine the resistance status of an isolate.

• Identification using the DuPont Qualicon RiboPrinter® microbial characterization system (which is available from representatives of Oxoid products in Europe, Canada and Australia).