Masoud Alebouyeh - Foodborne and Waterborne Diseases Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Shiga toxin-producing bacteria are considered as main cause of bloody or non-bloody diarrhea. They can produce a life threatening disease known as hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). While Shigella dysenteriae serotype 1 is the most notable bacteria that produce this toxin, other members of Enterobacteriacea, such as Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC), as well as Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Acinetobacter, Aeromonas, and Campylobacter spp., also could carry different stx genes and their variants (stx1 and/or stx2). Cooperation of Shiga toxins (Stx) with other virulence factors, such as aggregative adhesin and intimin (EAE), could induce more severe diseases in the infected patients. The stx genes are encoded in the genome of heterogeneous lambdoid bacteriophages and can inherit in other bacteria during horizontal gene transfer. High distribution of stx genes in farm or wild animals, wastewater and the terrestrial and aquatic environments proposes possible involvement of different bacterial species carrying these genes in the occurrence of stx-related diseases during water- and food-borne diseases and outbreaks. Prompt laboratory diagnosis of these pathogens could be effective in outbreak responses and control measures. In this presentation, we review prevalence of stx-encoding bacteria and methods of their detection in foodstuff and diarrheal stool samples.