Prevalence of virulence genes of Escherichia coli in surface waters of the Rio Bravo in Reynosa city, Tamaulipas

Abstract

The aim of this work was to determine the presence of virulence genes in strains of E. coli isolated in Rio Bravo in Reynosa city Tamaulipas. The detection of genes encoding virulence factors such as eae, bfp, stx1 and stx2 in surface water samples was using the PCR technique. stx2 gene was the most prevalent gene (27%) followed by stx1 (10%). Although the rest of the samples were considered commensal strains due to they did not have any of the proposed genes, the presence of the stx1 and stx2 genes are considered a risk to the population that has contact with the surface water of Rio Bravo. Therefore a microbiological monitoring is necessary in this area.