Vers la fin mars 2014 était signalée la réapparition du virus Ebo

Vers la fin mars 2014 était signalée la réapparition du virus Ebola dans une épidémie émergente en Guinée [1] :

dès le 24/03/2014, les autorités signalaient 49 cas, parmi lesquels 29 décès. D’emblée, plusieurs éléments originaux soulevaient interrogations mais aussi inquiétudes : non seulement c’était la première fois que cette infection, habituellement observée en Afrique Centrale, apparaissait en Afrique de l’Ouest mais surtout, à côté des cas initiaux signalés dans le Sud-Est du pays (Gueckedou), d’autres cas étaient repérés très vite dans la capitale Conakry. L’atteinte d’une grande ville laissait d’emblée supposer que le phénomène infectieux, contagieux, serait beaucoup plus difficile à contrôler. Depuis, en dépit des mesures prises (peut être insuffisantes KU-57788 ic50 ou mal appliquées), l’épidémie s’est étendue à une vitesse variable, s’accélérant à partir du mois de juin pour s’accroître en juillet et août, avec à nouveau une accélération en septembre [2] : au-delà de la Guinée,

le Liberia et la Sierra Léone [3] étaient concernés ; actuellement, de façon plus modérée, le Nigeria est touché à son tour ; on note aussi un cas sénégalais isolé à partir d’un malade venu de Guinée. Au 17/09/2014, 4985 cas étaient recensés, parmi lesquels PF-06463922 2461 décès, soit une mortalité de 50 %. À noter qu’un signalement en République Démocratique du Congo serait dû à un virus Ebola différent. Au total, en ce début septembre, nous en sommes à plus de 4000 cas et plus de 2000 décès. Quoiqu’il en soit, le non-contrôle de l’épidémie et le risque d’extension à travers des frontières difficiles à contrôler, et donc poreuses, inquiètent l’OMS et la communauté internationale [4]. La prise de conscience des autorités, certes accrue, ne suffit pas à maîtriser une épidémie qui mobilise aujourd’hui des organisations

humanitaires et préoccupe davantage nos politiques. Le virus Ebola est connu depuis 1976, où il fût responsable d’épidémies au Nord Zaïre et au Sud Soudan, créant la panique et de nombreux décès. Il emprunta alors son nom à une rivière zaïroise [5] and [6]. Des petits foyers épidémiques apparurent ensuite en différents pays (Zaïre, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Congo…), à chaque fois en zone forestière, faisant de nombreuses also victimes, notamment parmi les soignants. À chaque fois, la poussée s’éteignait en quelques semaines avec la mise en place de mesures d’hygiène. Le virus Ebola est un filovirus (famille des filoviridés), proche du virus Marbourg. Les filovirus sont des virus enveloppés, se présentant en long filament (d’où leur nom) et comportant un certain nombre de sous types antigéniquement différents : Ebola Zaïre, Ebola Soudan, Ebola Reston… Le responsable actuel, Ebola Guinée, appartient à un CLADE* différent mais avec de fortes identités avec les Ebola de République Démocratique du Congo et du Gabon. Le réservoir de virus, longtemps demeuré inconnu, est très vraisemblablement, une fois encore, la chauve-souris frugivore [7].

Endotoxin did not react in either assay Similarly, sugars did no

Endotoxin did not react in either assay. Similarly, sugars did not exhibit any reactivity in the Bradford assay. Reducing sugars were oxidized in the BCA assay. Monosaccharide and disaccharide reducing sugars exhibited the highest absorptivity with no clear difference

between hexoses or pentoses. LBH589 supplier Polysaccharides offered lower absorptivities, due to the localization of the reducing groups at the termini and the low relative number of reducing groups per polysaccharide. Indeed, dextran exhibited negligible reactivity due to the reducing groups being confined to a limited number of branched termini and representing a small portion of the total hexoses comprising the polysaccharide. Non-reducing carbohydrates including glycogen, HA, chondroitin sulfate, N-acetyl neuraminic acid, and sodium alginate did not react in the BCA assay (data not shown). In the Bradford assay, no carbohydrates except DNA formed absorbing species, although this was only substantial at >1 mg/mL, consistent with product literature Selleck Ibrutinib [37]. An increase in the absorbance at 595 nm due to shifts in the charged dye equilibria may underlie this observation [35]. Depending on whether the carbohydrate or DNA concentration is known, the Bradford or BCA

assay can both be used for measurement of protein contained in-process samples. Given the distinct responses of the two proteins assays to reducing sugars, an effort was made to use this differential

signal to measure the titre of a reducing sugar. First, the capability to sum the reactive components of multi-component mixtures was examined. The slopes of the standard curves for glucose and BSA were independently measured, with the sum of the two slopes equalling 1.56 AU/(mg/mL). A standard curve for samples consisting of 50:50 BSA:glucose was generated and was characterized Ribonucleotide reductase by a slope of 1.31 AU/(mg/mL), 18% below the expected value. In a subsequent examination of the differential approach, glucose was spiked to a final concentration of 1 mg/mL in solutions containing from 0.020 to 0.50 mg/mL BSA. The amount of glucose was then calculated from the difference of the BCA and Bradford signal. This was achieved by using a calibration equation derived from the BSA standard curve (to measure glucose in units of mg/mL BSA) and normalizing by the ratio of the slopes of the glucose and BSA standard curves. The outcome of these experiments was an estimation of 0.72 ± 0.15 mg/mL of glucose. This result was imprecise and was significantly below the expected concentration of 1 mg/mL. This trial indicated that the addition of the two assays was not accurate or robust enough to use for the purpose of estimating sugar concentrations. It is believed that the high observed variance and inaccuracy may be due to additive errors present when using multiple assay measurements for a single differential measurement.

, 2008) Schools are an important partner in population-level obe

, 2008). Schools are an important partner in population-level obesity prevention, particularly through supporting early development of healthy behaviors,

including promoting healthy eating and physical activity (Stone et al., 1998, Story et al., 2009a and Wechsler et al., 2000). Over the past ten years, many school jurisdictions have developed and implemented nutrition policies and guidelines as part of a broader strategy to address childhood obesity (Boehmer PD-0332991 clinical trial et al., 2007 and Foster et al., 2008). In Canada, there is no national/federal school nutrition policy or school feeding program; rather provincial/territorial jurisdictions are responsible for developing policies to regulate and manage school food. Research and policy activity in the Canadian province Talazoparib chemical structure of Nova Scotia (NS) provide a timely opportunity to explore

the relative impact of a nutrition policy on children’s health behaviors and weight status over time (McIsaac et al., 2012). Provincial results from the 2003 Children’s Lifestyle and School Performance Study I (CLASS I) (Veugelers and Fitzgerald, 2005b and Veugelers et al., 2005) helped to inform new policies and investments related to school health over the past decade in NS. The Food and Nutrition Policy for Nova Scotia Public Schools was introduced in 2006, with full implementation expected in all public (state) schools by 2009. This policy included all three categories defined in an earlier systematic review, including nutritional guidelines,

regulation of food and beverages available and price interventions ( Jaime and Lock, 2009). Briefly, the Nova Scotia Nutrition Policy (NSNP) is intended to increase access to and enjoyment of health-promoting, safe, PDK4 and affordable food and beverages served and sold in public schools, with the objective of helping to make the healthy food and beverage choice the easy choice in the school setting. The policy mandates standards for foods and beverages served and sold in schools and provides directives for various school eating practices (including pricing, programming and advertising) and guidelines that encourage schools to foster community partnerships and support local food products ( Government of Nova Scotia, 2008). A summary of the policy directives and guidelines is provided in Table 1. Following policy implementation, a subsequent data collection cycle in 2011 (CLASS II) provided an opportunity to explore how changes in school food practices as a result of the NSNP may have affected changes in student behavior, if at all.

This contrasts with the generation of HPV31 antibodies in NZW rab

This contrasts with the generation of HPV31 antibodies in NZW rabbits following

immunization with Cervarix® and immunization with the tetravalent preparation that generated a broad response, including cross-neutralization of HPV31 and HPV45 pseudoviruses. There are possible reasons for these discrepancies, including potential differences in the exact VLP and adjuvant formulations between the individual and tetravalent preparations, the potential sub-optimal immunostimulatory capacity of commercial adjuvants and in house formulation, the variability inherent in using small groups of animals and the possibility of differential immunogenicity when certain VLP are used in combination, not apparent when used individually. The type-specific neutralization titers against HPV16, HPV18, HPV39 and HPV58 were similar in the individual and tetravalent click here preparations,

suggesting that any formulation differences were quite subtle. These data also suggest that the type-specific responses did not suffer from immune interference, as has been reported from the use of other multivalent preparations containing HPV58 VLP [42]. We did not test other multivalent formulations using other combinations of antigens which may have been informative. Few MAbs have been generated against VLP from GSK1120212 manufacturer genotypes other than HPV6, HPV11, HPV16 and HPV18 [40], [43] and [44], therefore data on the antigenicity of the L1 protein is largely limited to these genotypes. MAbs capable of binding L1 proteins representing multiple genotypes from the same species group can be found [40] and [44]. However, apart from cross-neutralization between HPV18 and HPV45 which appears to be replicated by available MAbs [17] and [40], MTMR9 no other inter-genotype cross-neutralizing MAbs have been identified. Little is known about the specificity of antibodies

elicited by the current HPV vaccines except that cross-reactive antibodies are derived from the immunizing HPV16 and HPV18 VLP [45], as expected, and that cross-neutralizing antibodies against genotypes in the Alpha-9 species group appear to be a minority population [33]. In the present study, competition of HPV31 and HPV33 neutralizing antibodies by addition of homologous VLP and the lack of an impact on the archetypal HPV16 and HPV58 pseudovirus neutralization titers, respectively, appear to corroborate observations [33] that cross-neutralizing antibodies comprise minor specificities within the antibody repertoire elicited following VLP immunization. However, differential affinities for the immunizing and target antigens cannot be ruled out by this approach. Cross-neutralizing antibody titers generated by HPV33 or HPV58 in the individual preparations (or by HPV58 in the tetravalent preparation) were an order of magnitude higher than those elicited by HPV16 VLP against HPV31 pseudovirus in the tetravalent preparation.

By including data obtained over consecutive years annual variabil

By including data obtained over consecutive years annual variability in the incidence of intussusception could be observed. However, during the period of implementation of a new vaccine into a National Immunisation Program, the number of infants at risk from a vaccine-associated adverse event will change as vaccine uptake increases. Therefore, the calculation of incidence rate of intussusception in the period before, during and after successful implementation of a new vaccine will require assessment of vaccine uptake in order to assess the cohort

at-risk of a vaccine related adverse event such as intussusception. In Australia, the implementation of rotavirus vaccines was prompt with 87% of all eligible Australian infants received at least one dose of a rotavirus vaccine before 4 months of age, with 84% of these children completing a course of 2 or 3 doses according to the recommended schedule during the first

18-month period see more from rotavirus vaccine introduction [18]. The season when vaccine is introduced may also influence the estimate of benefit of vaccination in the early introduction period as it impacts on the proportion of the at-risk population that had an opportunity to receive vaccine and therefore receive a potential benefit. The mean incidence rate ratio observed during this 8-year study period was similar as that observed at the same hospital using the same methodology during the period 1994–2001 (1.9–2.7 per 10,000 live births)[11]. A consistent but unexplained decrease in the number of IS cases has been observed over the past decade in studies from the USA and Denmark DAPT [21] and [22]. One explanation postulated is the shift in the management

of intussusception from inpatient hospitalisations to short stay hospitalisations and outpatients settings [23]. In the present study all children entering the hospital, whether for short stay or emergency admissions are captured as hospitalisations by the Royal Children’s Hospital medical record system. Four cases were not born in Victoria but presented to RCH for diagnosis and treatment of intussusception during the study. As these infants presented sporadically over the 8 years of the study, they did not significantly impact on the incidence rate calculations based on the Victorian birth cohort and were included in the final Mephenoxalone analysis. Changes in the population treated in sentinel sites due to migration (in or out of the region) or a change in the health seeking behaviour of the population may impact on assumptions used to base calculations of incidence. As patients presenting to a central specialised paediatric centre may travel from distant regions, sometimes in an unpredictable pattern, it may be difficult to determine the baseline population used in the calculation of incidence. In this study, the number of live births in the State of Victoria was used for the calculation of incidence.

The samples were considered positive if the OD values were ≥X2 ab

The samples were considered positive if the OD values were ≥X2 above the day 0 sera. To assess the likely disruptive effect of the A− G-H loop deletion, the predicted amino

acid sequences of the VP1 polypeptides Pfizer Licensed Compound Library datasheet of either A+ or A− were substituted for that of O1/BFS 1860/UK/67 (accession 1FOD; [18]) using the structural prediction software ESyPred3D [19]. The subsequent structures were plotted using RasMol 2.7.3.1 [20]. Sequence comparison of the capsid coding regions of A+ and A− confirmed the absence of the VP1 G-H loop in A− (13 deletions located at residues 142–154) and only 2 other amino acid substitutions, both in VP1; residues 141 (A to V) and 155 (A to K). A comparison of the A+ and A− VP1 polypeptides Selleck Alectinib using ESyPred3D, and based on the co-ordinates of O1/BFS 1860/UK/67 [18], demonstrated that the residual G-H loop amino acids of the A− virus were sufficient to form a smaller loop leaving the core tertiary structure of the protein unchanged (Fig. 1). To confirm the loss of

the antigenic site in the shortened VP1 G-H loop of A−, the characteristics of A+ and A− were examined by a panel of MAbs generated against A22/IRQ/24/64 (Fig. 2) whose epitopes are located on the VP1 G-H loop coding region and were similar to that of A+, differing at only six amino acid residues. These positions, namely 133, 136, 139, 140, 142 and 160, were not predicted as antigenically significant by Bolwell et al. [16]. All six of the anti VP1 G-H loop MAbs reacted well with A+ and homologous A22/IRQ/24/64 but did not react with A− or trypsin 17-DMAG (Alvespimycin) HCl treated A+ (Fig. 2). Sera collected on days 0, 7, 14 and 21 were tested by virus neutralisation test (VNT) to assess the virus neutralising antibody response to vaccination. Fig. 3 shows that vaccines prepared from A− or A+ produced a similar response and induced

detectable levels of anti-FMDV neutralising antibody as early as 7 days post vaccination with an identical response at day 21. In order to determine whether a vaccine prepared from A− is likely to protect cattle from challenge against the homologous and A+ viruses, serum antibody titres were used to calculate the degree of predicted protection by cross referencing serum neutralising titres obtained in this study against protection titres defined by Brehm et al. [21]. Brehm et al. [21] demonstrated that serum neutralising titres of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 can provide protection in 44%, 79%, 85%, 94% and 100%, respectively, of animals vaccinated with a high potency serotype A vaccine and then challenged with different serotype A viruses of variable antigenic relatedness to the vaccine strain [21]. Taking into account that this is a new approach for predicting protection which encompassed different sera and viruses and did not include control sera from the original Brehm study, relationship values (r1) were also determined from the serum neutralising antibody titres.

Flavivirus serostatus (i e dengue and JE) at baseline and safety

Flavivirus serostatus (i.e. dengue and JE) at baseline and safety data at each time point were summarized by vaccine group. The safety analysis set was defined for each dose as those children who received a vaccine; data were analyzed according to the vaccine received. Between

14 August 2010 and 31 July 2012, 550 participants were enrolled and 468 completed the 3-MA ic50 study (Fig. 2). The main reason for discontinuation was voluntary withdrawal. No child withdrew owing to an AE. Mean age at inclusion, BMI, and ratio of male:female were similar in the three groups (Table 1). All children except one were Asian. Before vaccination, 2 children (2.0%) in JE-CV Group, 18 children (9.1%) in MMR Group and 5 children (2.3%) in Co-Ad Group were flavivirus seropositive i.e. they presented with pre-existing antibodies against either JE or dengue virus. All groups had low seroprotection/seropositivity rates before vaccination for all antigens (JE, measles, mumps and rubella). Non-inferiority was demonstrated for all analyses as the lower bound of the 95% CI of the difference in seroconversion rates between groups stood above −10.0% (Fig. 3). On Day 42 after vaccination, seroconversion rates were above 96% for all antigens in both concomitant MG-132 purchase and sequential groups (Fig. 3). The seropositivity/seroprotection

rates were similar to the seroconversion rates. The PP population only included children with GMTs of JE antibodies under the seroprotective threshold

of 10.0 1/dil before JE-CV vaccination. The GMTs of JE antibody were increased in all groups 42 days after JE-CV vaccination and were higher in the sequential administration groups compared with Co-Ad Group. For JE-CV, GMTs were 510 1/dil (95% CI: 356; 731) for JE-CV Group, 581 1/dil (95% CI: 449; 752) for MMR Group, and 332 1/dil (95% CI: 258; 426) for Co-Ad Group. Likewise, the GMTRs tended to be higher in JE-CV Group (102 [95% CI: second 71.3; 146]) and MMR Group (116 [95% CI: 89.8; 150]) compared with Co-Ad Group (66.3 [95% CI: 51.6; 85.2]); however, this difference is not clinically significant as the GMT values in all groups were well above the threshold considered to be protective. Results in the FAS were similar to those in the PP population. Persistence in seroprotection/seropositivity remained high for all four antigens up to 6 months after the last vaccination, as the level of antibody titers remained far above the threshold for seroprotection or seropositivity. The seroprotection rates for JE remained high at 12 months after first vaccination in the two groups with successive administration of the vaccines, and decreased slightly in the co-administration group (Fig. 4). All GMTs remained well above the level of protection (Fig. 4). Seroprotection rates remained high at 12 months after vaccination in all groups for measles, mumps, and rubella (Fig. 4).

Anyway, these ‘negative’ observations on free hormone responses g

Anyway, these ‘negative’ observations on free hormone responses generate some novel insights. First of all, measurement of total plasma glucocorticoid hormone only DAPT provides limited information about the real biologically active free concentration. Second, from a homeostatic perspective, it seems that, with regard to the free glucocorticoid hormone, the organism is keen to generate stressor-specific set response levels to stress. If like in the case of long-term exercise the enhanced sympatho-adrenomedullary drive results in enhanced total plasma corticosterone

responses to physical challenges then apparently mechanisms are in place to adjust the available free hormone levels to match those in the sedentary animals. A similar mechanism is supposedly in place in case of mild psychological stressors. Identification of these mechanism(s) is important, as they are part of the nuts and bolts that constitute resilience. Consequently, disturbances in these adjusting mechanisms would result in hypo- or hyper-levels

of glucocorticoid hormone, which could lead to development of various disorders. We would like to note that in addition to exercise, gender is another example in which this Luminespib nmr mechanism of free glucocorticoid adjustment may be operational. It’s known for many years that female rats and mice have substantially higher baseline and stress-induced total plasma glucocorticoid levels than their male counterparts. Using microdialysis, we found however that the free corticosterone levels at baseline and after stress were very similar between female and male rats (Droste et al., 2009a). In a sleep physiological study we studied various properties of the sleep/EEG pattern in exercising and sedentary mice including the duration of sleep episodes, sleep intensity, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, non-REM sleep and wakefulness. These properties are indicators of sleep quality.

For more information about our method of sleep recording, sleep analysis and spectrum Thymidine kinase analysis see Lancel et al. (1997). We observed that long-term wheel running mice showed significantly less sleep episodes, however, these episodes were of longer duration indicating a better sleep consolidation (Lancel et al., 2003). Compared with sedentary controls the exercising mice also showed less REM sleep. A 15 min social conflict resulted in an increase in non-REM sleep, enhancement of low-frequency activity in the EEG within non-REM sleep (indicating increased sleep intensity) and less wakefulness in both control and exercising mice. In the control mice however an increased REM sleep concurrently with the rise in non-REM sleep was observed. In contrast, exercising animals showed a decrease in REM sleep.

3 The immune response to the antigen was assessed by measuring t

3. The immune response to the antigen was assessed by measuring the titer of polyclonal antibody in mouse serum using indirect ELISA. The mice with the highest titer were splenectomized on day 3 after the last antigen injection. The splenocytes were fused with SP2/0 myeloma cells at a ratio of 5:1 using 50% (w/v) polyethylene glycol (PEG) according to the technique established by Kohler and Milstein.7 MDV3100 Using this methodology, five anti-NS1 mAbs (P148.1, P148.7, P148.9, P148.L1, P148.L2) were developed and characterized. The production, purification and characterization

of the anti dengue ‘NS1 mAb’ were performed by affinity chromatography according to the published protocol.8 This purified mAb antibody was subsequently used in the ELISA assay, as the capture antibody. The bsmAb was developed by fusing two different hybridoma cell lines, P148.L1 anti-NS1 mAb and YP4 anti-HRPO mAb each hybridoma at 2 × 107 cells was separately isolated from the two cell lines Androgen Receptor Antagonist purchase in their logarithmic growth phase. The anti-HRPO YP4 is a well-characterized rat hybridoma that was previously selected for drug resistance to 8-azaguanine,

making it sensitive to aminopterin in HAT medium. The P148.L1 (re-suspended in RPMI media, pH 7.4) was labeled with the red dye TRITC. The YP4 (re-suspended in RPMI media, pH 6.8) was labeled with the green dye FITC. Both hybridomas were incubated for 30 min in a 5% CO2 chamber (37 °C). Excess dye was removed by repeated washes (×3) with RPMI serum free media. The cells were thoroughly mixed and then centrifuged at 459× g for 7 min. The pellet was collected and suspended in RPMI. The supernatant was removed and the fusion of the two cell lines was done by drop-wise addition of 2 ml of polyethylene glycol to the cell pellet with continuous stirring for 2 min at 37 °C. The toxic effect of PEG was immediately addressed by diluting the mixture with 20 ml of serum free RPMI media. This mixture was then centrifuged at 114× g for 5 min and the cell pellet was again suspended in RPMI media containing 10% FBS. The fused cells were sorted by fluorescence-activated

cell sorting (FACS) and Adenylyl cyclase the dual positive cells were seeded in a 96-well sterile tissue culture plate at a concentration of 1 cell/well. The cells were cultured in 20% FBS media at 37 °C with 5% CO2 and their growth was regularly monitored. Based on cell growth, after approximately two weeks of culture, the cells were screened for their activity using the bridge ELISA technique. The stable, cloned bsmAb secreting cells were seeded in a hyper flask for large-scale expansion. 7–10 days later the supernatant was harvested and centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 30 min. The collected supernatant was passed through a 0.22 μm filter to remove cell debris and the clarified supernatant was further processed to obtain pure bsmAb antibody. The purified bsmAb was then used as the detection antibody in the bsmAb ELISA immunoassay. Purified P148.

An important finding of this

An important finding of this Everolimus mw study is that two doses of the SRP® vaccine applied in a commercial feedlot reduced E. coli O157:H7 shedding by more than 50% and reduced high shedders by more than 75%. These results from a cattle population with relatively high levels of E. coli O157:H7 have important practical implications since efficacy of pre-harvest interventions is most important when prevalence is high [13]. Another important finding

is that the commercial DFM (Bovamine®) had no effect on E. coli O157:H7 fecal shedding. These results also have practical significance since end-users of pre-harvest interventions may wonder whether these commercially available products – the SRP® vaccine and the Bovamine® DFM – are equally efficacious. Results also indicate that DFM-fed cattle may have improved performance whereas cattle in vaccinated pens had relatively poorer performance. Performance effects need to be further quantified since cattle performance affects beef production costs, and the adoption of Docetaxel clinical trial pre-harvest control programs will be affected by all costs associated with implementation. Study cattle were fed a diet with

25% DG during the summer; thus, the interventions were tested in a situation when fecal shedding of E. coli O157:H7 was expected to be high. Feeding DG to cattle can increase fecal shedding of E. coli O157:H7 approximately two to threefold [9], [11] and [12]. Seasonal effects associated with E. coli O157:H7 shedding (higher in the summer) also has been well documented; study data ( Fig. 1) demonstrate a well-described seasonal pattern [4], [16] and [19]. The sample-level prevalence for high shedders (3.5%) and overall fecal shedding (31.7%) were relatively high, but numerically similar to estimates

from comparable populations. Reports on summer-harvested cattle about included prevalence estimates for high shedders of 3.7% [7] and 3.3% [8]. Recent estimates of overall fecal prevalence in summer-fed feedlot cattle have ranged between 37% and 10%, but within-pen prevalence is highly variable [16], [20] and [21]. Thus, the range in cumulative within-pen prevalence (1.7–66.7%) reported in this current study is consistent with previous reports. While diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of culture methods used in this study are not perfect for identifying fecal shedding and high shedding [22], any misclassification would be expected to be non-differential with respect to treatments. Further, these methods have previously provided useful data on fecal shedding relative to important food safety parameters such as E. coli O157:H7 carcass and hide prevalence [7] and [8]. Gene profiles of isolates recovered in this study are similar to those previously reported; indicating that the E. coli O157:H7 isolates have potential for human virulence [23] and [24].