Quantitative Detection of Shiga Toxins Directly from Stool Specimens of Patients Associated with an Outbreak of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli in Japan—Quantitative Shiga toxin detection from stool during EHEC outbreak
Eiki Yamasaki,
Masanori Watahiki,
Junko Isobe,
Tetsutaro Sata,
G. Balakrish Nair,
Hisao Kurazono
Affiliations
Eiki Yamasaki
Division of Food Hygiene, Department of Animal and Food Hygiene, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Nishi 2-11, Inada-cho, Obihiro 080-8555, Hokkaido, Japan
Masanori Watahiki
Toyama Institute of Health, Imizu, Toyama 939-0363, Japan
Junko Isobe
Toyama Institute of Health, Imizu, Toyama 939-0363, Japan
Tetsutaro Sata
Toyama Institute of Health, Imizu, Toyama 939-0363, Japan
G. Balakrish Nair
Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, Haryana 121001, India
Hisao Kurazono
Division of Food Hygiene, Department of Animal and Food Hygiene, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Nishi 2-11, Inada-cho, Obihiro 080-8555, Hokkaido, Japan
Detection of Shiga toxins (Stx) is important for accurate diagnosis of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli infection. In this study, we quantitatively analyzed Stx protein in nine patients’ stool during an outbreak that occurred in Japan. Highly sensitive immunoassay (bead enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (bead-ELISA)) revealed that the concentrations of toxins in stool of patients ranged from 0.71 to 10.44 ng/mL for Stx1 and 2.75 to 51.61 ng/mL for Stx2. To our knowledge, this is the first report that reveals the range of Stx protein concentrations in human stools.
