TY - JOUR AU - García, Alexis AU - Fox, James G. T1 - The Rabbit as a New Reservoir Host of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2003 VL - 9 IS - 12 SP - 1592 SN - 1080-6059 AB - We investigated the prevalence of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) in rabbits acquired from two commercial vendors and a local petting zoo. Fecal samples from 34 Dutch Belted (DB) and 15 New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits were cultured; and isolates were biotyped, serotyped, tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and genotyped by repetitive-element sequence–based PCR (Rep-PCR). Seven (25%) of 28 DB rabbits acquired from one commercial source were positive for EHEC, including O153:H- and O153:H7. One (9%) of 11 NZW rabbits from the same source was positive for eae-, stx1+ O153 strains. In contrast, six DB rabbits from another commercial source and four rabbits from a petting zoo were negative for EHEC. Rep-PCR demonstrated that the O153 EHEC and O145 enteropathogenic E. coli were two distinct clones. Our study indicates that rabbits are a new reservoir host of EHEC that may pose a zoonotic risk for humans. KW - EHEC KW - E. coli KW - HUS KW - rabbits KW - reservoir host KW - Shiga toxin KW - zoonotic KW - United States DO - 10.3201/eid0912.030223 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/9/12/03-0223_article ER - End of Reference