Microscreen E. coli O157 latex confirmation assay

Product Code: M44

A rapid test for the confirmatory identification of E.coli serogroup O157 cultured on selective solid media. Much of the rapidly expanding interest in E. coli O157 results from the increasing capability to isolate and identify this organism. E. coli O157 is a verotoxin (VT) producing strain responsible for Haemorrhagic colitis (HC), Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (HUS) and community acquired diarrhoea. Until recently it was thought that E. coli O157 was only isolated from samples of bloody diarrhoea as this is classically seen with verotoxin producing strains.

However, it is now increasingly being isolated from non-bloody specimens. Sorbitol MacConkey medium is the recommended screening agar for E. coli O157, but, although this technique shows 100% sensitivity it is only 85% specific. E. coli O157 does not ferment sorbitol. However, other sorbitol negative Gram negative rods also grow on sorbitol MacConkey agar. As a result of this, a specific rapid identification method is required. Microgen E. coli O157 is an easy-to-use one step, latex identification kit which gives results in under two minutes and specifically identifies E. coli O157 directly from the selective plate, even in mixed culture. The conventional method for identification of E. coli O157:H7 utilises specific antisera in a standard agglutination test.

However, this method and other commercially available latex tests have been shown to suffer from cross reactions with other enteric organisms such as E. hermanii, which antigenically and biochemically resembles E. coli O157, resulting in false positive results. Microgen E. coli O157 contains a test latex which has been sensitised with E. coli O157 specific antibodies, that are prepared by absorption with potentially cross reacting strains. Microgen E. coli O157 has demonstrated no cross reactions when tested against a panel of 161 E. coli O157 ‘O’ serotypes and 56 ‘H’ serotypes, and shows strong specific agglutination. Microgen E. coli O157 gives strong and specific results within two minutes and comes complete with a control latex which can be easily compared with test results to confirm non-specific reactions.

PLEASE NOTE THIS PRODUCT IS AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN THE UK ONLY.

Related Sector(s)

• Clinical
• Dairy
• Food

Related Organism(s)

• E.coli O157