The detection of Vero cytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli and Shigella dysenteriae type 1 in faecal specimens using polymerase chain reaction gene amplification.

Fifty consecutive faecal specimens received by the LEP were examined for the presence of Vero cytotoxin (VT) genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) gene amplification. Nineteen were positive by PCR and from 16 of these, VT positive Escherichia coli O157 were isolated. The remaining three samples were positive for VT genes by PCR but VTEC were not isolated. In a preliminary experiment, Shigella dysenteriae type 1 was isolated from a case of bloody diarrhoea following a positive amplification result.