- Pars, Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of
Mahdi Askari Badouei
Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Pathobiology, Faculty Member
- Islamic Azad Universty, Pathobiology, Faculty Memberadd
- Mahdi Askari is a university lecturer on general, diagnostic and pathogenic bacteriology and also a researcher in vet... moreMahdi Askari is a university lecturer on general, diagnostic and pathogenic bacteriology and also a researcher in veterinary and public health bacteriology. His main fields of interest include virulence, epidemiology, pathogenesis and resistance of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in animals and its zoonotic risk for humans. He is actively pursuing collaborative studies on pathogenic E. coli. He is currently working on the emerging zoonotic Escherichia spp. in humans and animals.edit
Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) is an important bacterial pathogen that causes avian colibacillosis and leads to huge economic losses in the poultry industry. Different virulence traits contribute to pathogenesis of APEC... more
Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) is an important bacterial pathogen that causes avian colibacillosis and leads to huge economic losses in the poultry industry. Different virulence traits contribute to pathogenesis of APEC infections, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has also been an overwhelming issue in poultry worldwide. In the present study, we aimed to investigate and compare the presence of virulence-associated genes (VAGs), AMR, and phylogenetic group's distribution among APEC and avian fecal E. coli (AFEC) strains. E. coli from birds with colisepticemia and yolk sac infection (YSI) (APEC) plus E. coli strains from the feces of healthy birds (AFEC) were compared by the aforementioned traits. In addition, the clonal relatedness was compared using Enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus PCR (ERIC-PCR). Although all strains were susceptible to fosfomycin, ceftriaxone, and cefixime, almost all strains (98%) were multi-drug resistant (MDR). All strains (except...
Objectives The emergence of colistin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae from human and animal sources is one of the major public health concerns as colistin is the last-resort antibiotic for treating infections caused by multidrug-resistant... more
Objectives The emergence of colistin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae from human and animal sources is one of the major public health concerns as colistin is the last-resort antibiotic for treating infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. We aimed to determine the prevalence of the prototype widespread colistin resistance genes (mcr-1 and mcr-2) among commensal and pathogenic Escherichia coli strains isolated from food-producing and companion animals in Iran. Results A total of 607 E. coli isolates which were previously collected from different animal sources between 2008 and 2016 used to uncover the possible presence of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance genes (mcr-1 and mcr-2) by PCR. Overall, our results could not confirm the presence of any mcr-1 or mcr-2 positive E. coli among the studied isolates. It is concluded that despite the important role of food-producing animals in transferring the antibiotic resistance, they were not the main source for carriage ...
Research Interests: Microbiology, Biology, Medicine, Antibiotic Resistance, Escherichia coli, and 3 moreColistin, McR, and Plasmid
Bordetellosis or turkey coryza, caused by Bordetella avium, has been an issue for turkey industry since its first description in 1967 when it was reported for the first time. Bordetella avium causes a highly contagious upper respiratory... more
Bordetellosis or turkey coryza, caused by Bordetella avium, has been an issue for turkey industry since its first description in 1967 when it was reported for the first time. Bordetella avium causes a highly contagious upper respiratory disease in turkeys. Therefore, this study aimed to isolate and characterize this species from commercial and backyard turkeys in Tehran, Isfahan, and Northern provinces of Iran. For the purpose of the study, 625 tracheal swabs were taken from 425 commercial poults and 200 backyard poults aged 2-6 weeks from September 2016 to September 2018. The swabs were immediately plated on MacConkey and blood agar plates and then pooled (5 swabs/pool) in tubes, containing 2 mL distilled water, to perform direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the identification of B. avium. A total of 17 swab pools were found to be positive for B. avium. A subset of seven positive samples were sequenced for the flanking region of piuA gene. The analysis of the sequences indic...
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Background Transmission of antimicrobial resistant and virulent Escherichia coli (E. coli) from animal to human has been considered as a public health concern. This study aimed to determine the phylogenetic background and prevalence of... more
Background Transmission of antimicrobial resistant and virulent Escherichia coli (E. coli) from animal to human has been considered as a public health concern. This study aimed to determine the phylogenetic background and prevalence of diarrheagenic E. coli and antimicrobial resistance in healthy riding-horses in Iran. In this research, the genes related to six main pathotypes of E. coli were screened. Also, genotypic and phenotypic antimicrobial resistance against commonly used antibiotics were studied, then phylo-grouping was performed on all the isolates. Results Out of 65 analyzed isolates, 29.23 % (n = 19) were determined as STEC and 6.15 % (n = 4) as potential EPEC. The most prevalent antimicrobial resistance phenotypes were against amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (46.2 %) and ceftriaxone (38.5 %). blaTEM was the most detected resistance gene (98.4 %) among the isolates and 26.15 % of the E. coli isolates were determined as multi-drug resistant (MDR). Three phylo-types including B...
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Genotype and pathotype characterization of Escherichia coli isolates through molecular methods at a specific geographical area is particularly useful in the evaluation of disease, epidemiology. Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and... more
Genotype and pathotype characterization of Escherichia coli isolates through molecular methods at a specific geographical area is particularly useful in the evaluation of disease, epidemiology. Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are among the most important E. coli pathotypes. In this study 80 fecal samples were collected from 11 healthy sheep flocks in winter and spring of 2011 in Garmsar district. Escherichia coli isolates were screened by multiplex-PCR for stx1, stx2, eae, and ehly virulence genes. Among fecal samples, 47 cases (58/75%) were diagnosed as STEC Carrier. Among 98 E. coli isolates, stx1/ehly (54/8%) was the predominant genotype. EPEC strains were not recognized in this study. Therefore, sheep might be a possible reservoir for STEC infection in Garmsar and can be transmitted to humans through consumption of lamb meat and other related products.
Objective(s): The enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) has been one of the most intriguing emerging bacterial pathogens in children that occur both in developing countries and the industrial world. Although various phenotypic and... more
Objective(s): The enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) has been one of the most intriguing emerging bacterial pathogens in children that occur both in developing countries and the industrial world. Although various phenotypic and genotypic based protocols have been suggested for diagnosis of EAEC, they are not conclusive or practical to be used in most clinical laboratories. Materials and Methods: In this study, we analyzed and compared 36 typical EAEC strains (aggR-positive) by various genotypic and phenotypic methods. Results: Briefly, pCVD432 was detected in all of isolates along with aggR, then it was followed by other virulence genes including app, astA, aggA, and pet genes in 32 (88.8%), 21 (58.3%), 9 (25%), and 2 (5.5%) isolates, respectively. Biofilm was formed by 34 (94.4%) isolates, while only 26 (72.2%) isolates showed an aggregative adherence pattern to HEp-2 cells. Conclusion: The genetic and phenotypic features of EAEC were highly inconsistent, which may have cons...
M. JAJARMI, M. ASKARI BADOUEI, R. GHANBARPOUR, A. KARMOSTAJI & H. ALIZADE Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran; Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary... more
M. JAJARMI, M. ASKARI BADOUEI, R. GHANBARPOUR, A. KARMOSTAJI & H. ALIZADE Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran; Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran; Infectious and Tropical Disease Research Center, Hormozgan Health Institute, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran; Student Research Committee, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran; Research Center for Tropical and Infectious Diseases, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
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All over the world, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are considered as important zoonotic pathogens. Eight serogroups have the greatest role in the outbreaks and diseases caused by STEC which include O26, O45, O103, O111,... more
All over the world, Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are considered as important zoonotic pathogens. Eight serogroups have the greatest role in the outbreaks and diseases caused by STEC which include O26, O45, O103, O111, O113, O121, O145 and O157. Ruminants, especially cattle are the main reservoirs but the role of small ruminants in the epidemiology of human infections has not been thoroughly assessed in many countries. The objective of this research was to investigate the pathogenic potential of the STEC strains isolated from slaughtered goats. In this study, a total of 57 STEC strains were recovered from 450 goats and characterized by subtyping of stx genes, O-serogrouping, phylo-typing and DNA fingerprinting. Amongst 57 STEC strains isolated from goats, the prevalence of stx1 was significantly more than stx2 (98.2% vs. 24.5%; P ≤ 0.05), and 22.8% of strains harbored both stx1 and stx2 genes. Three (5.2%) isolates were characterized as EHEC, which carried both eae a...
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Background Subtilase is a potent cytotoxin that was first described in O113:H21 strain in Australia as a plasmid- encoded cytotoxin (subAB1). Subsequently, chromosomal variants including subAB2-1, subAB2-2, and subAB2-3 were described.... more
Background Subtilase is a potent cytotoxin that was first described in O113:H21 strain in Australia as a plasmid- encoded cytotoxin (subAB1). Subsequently, chromosomal variants including subAB2-1, subAB2-2, and subAB2-3 were described. Results In the present study a collection of 101 archived STEC strains isolated from various sources in Iran (2009–2016) were analyzed for the detection of different genes encoding the subtilase variants, plasmidic and chromosomal virulence genes, together with the phylogroup and serogroups. Overall, 57 isolates (56.4%) carried at least one variant of subAB. Most strains from small ruminants including 93% of sheep and 96% of caprine isolates carried at least one chromosomally encoded variant (subAB-2-1 and/or subAb2-2). In contrast, 12 cattle isolates (24%) only harbored the plasmid encoded variant (subAB1). STEC strains from other sources including deer, pony and humans were positive for subAB-2-1 and/or subAb2-2. Concerning the virulence markers, so...
Most efforts to elucidate virulence mechanisms of mammary pathogenic Escherichia coli (MPEC), causative agent of bovine clinical mastitis, have been failed but some recent studies introduced iron acquisition systems as major role players... more
Most efforts to elucidate virulence mechanisms of mammary pathogenic Escherichia coli (MPEC), causative agent of bovine clinical mastitis, have been failed but some recent studies introduced iron acquisition systems as major role players in pathogenicity. Here, we investigated the different iron uptake systems genotypes and assessed how they relate to virulence potential of MPEC. In total, 217 E. coli isolates (MPEC= 157, fecal isolates= 60) were screened for the presence of nine genes related to iron acquisition (iroN, iutA, fecA, fyuA, sitA, irp2, iucD, chuA and tonB) and phylogenetic groups were also determined. Next, bacterial growth potential and survival in raw and UHT milk which are representative for crucial steps in mastitis development were evaluated. In addition, the mineral consumption of E. coli cultured in milk were measured. The results showed that MPEC strains considerably tend to possess fecA (93%, p= 0.000) and belong to phylogenetic group A (42%, p= 0.042). The fe...
Background and Objectives: Escherichia coli is responsible for various enteric and extraintestinal infections in animals and humans. Iron as an essential nutrient, has a proven role in pathogenicity of E. coli. Pathogenic E. coli benefits... more
Background and Objectives: Escherichia coli is responsible for various enteric and extraintestinal infections in animals and humans. Iron as an essential nutrient, has a proven role in pathogenicity of E. coli. Pathogenic E. coli benefits of having complicated systems for iron acquisition but our current knowledge is limited because of complexity of these systems. In the present study, three multiplex-PCR assays were developed to screen nine different virulence genes related to diverse iron acquisition systems in E. coli. Materials and Methods: The multiplex-PCR systems were designed and optimized in three panels. Each panel includes a triplex-PCR cocktail. The panels are as follow: panel 1: iroN, iutA and fecA; panel 2: fyuA, sitA and irp2; and panel 3: iucD, chuA and tonB. A total of 39 pathogenic E. coli was screened according to the designed multiplex-PCR. Results: In total, the top three frequent genes were tonB (100%), fecA (66.6%) and sitA (58.9%). With the exception of fecA ...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the virulence potential of the isolated bovine STEC for humans in Iran. In this study a collection of STEC strains (n = 50) had been provided via four stages, including sampling from feces of... more
The aim of this study was to investigate the virulence potential of the isolated bovine STEC for humans in Iran. In this study a collection of STEC strains (n = 50) had been provided via four stages, including sampling from feces of cattle, E. coli isolation, molecular screening of Shiga toxin (stx) genes, and saving the STEC strains from various geographical areas in Iran. The STEC isolates were subjected to stx-subtyping, O-serogrouping, and phylo-grouping by conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Occurrence of stx1 (52%) and stx2 (64%) was not significantly different (p = 0.1), and 16% of isolates carried both stx1 and stx2, simultaneously. In addition, 36% and 80% of the isolates were positive for eae and ehxA, respectively. Molecular subtyping showed that stx1a (52%), stx2a (44%), stx2c (44%), and stx2d (30%) were the most prevalent subtypes; two combinations stx2a/stx2c and stx2c/stx2d coexisted in 18% and 10% of STEC strains, respectively. Three important non-O157 sero...
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BACKGROUND:The bacterial contamination of fertile eggs is the most common cause of embryonic death in ostrich hatchery units leading to financial loss in ostrich industry. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research was to investigate the... more
BACKGROUND:The bacterial contamination of fertile eggs is the most common cause of embryonic death in ostrich hatchery units leading to financial loss in ostrich industry. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research was to investigate the bacterial contamination status, with emphasis on Escherichia coli, of ostrich hatcheries and the antimicrobial resistance profile of isolated Escherichia coli. METHODS:Atotal of 120 ostrich eggs with dead embryos, at weekly intervals, were collected from three ostrich hatcheries. The dead embryos were sent to laboratory and samples were collected aseptically from different organs. Bacterial detection and identification were performed by using standard bacteriological and biochemical techniques. Antimicrobial susceptibility test was carried out by agar diskdiffusion method against 27 antimicrobial agents. RESULTS: Different types of bacteria were isolated from 56 eggs (46.7%). Twenty-four ostrich eggs were shown to carry E. coli. In some eggs, in addition ...
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Background and Aim: Subtilase cytotoxin is a potent AB5 toxin that first discovered in O113: H21 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strain involving in an outbreak of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in Australia and introduced... more
Background and Aim: Subtilase cytotoxin is a potent AB5 toxin that first discovered in O113: H21 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strain involving in an outbreak of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in Australia and introduced in 2004 as a novel bacterial toxin. It has been proposed that this toxin may augment the effects of Shiga toxins and may increase the severity of related diseases in humans. The aim of the present study was to investigate the occurrence of Subtilase encoding gene (subA) among STEC isolates from different sources in Iran. Methods: For this purpose, a total number of 53 STEC strains that were isolated from cattle (35), sheep (3), pigeon (12) and humans (3) in recent years investigated using a specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the subA gene. Then, all STEC isolates were screened for the Stx subtypes using a multiplex-PCR assay for stx1 and stx2. Results: A total of 21 STEC isolates (39.6%) were shown to harbor the subA gene. The subA g...
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Abstract: Salmonella infection is one of the most important diseases that affect all animal species and is the leading cause of foodborne infections worldwide. One of the challenges in the control and prevention of salmonellosis is the... more
Abstract: Salmonella infection is one of the most important diseases that affect all animal species and is the leading cause of foodborne infections worldwide. One of the challenges in the control and prevention of salmonellosis is the recognition of potential carriers. To assess the potential role of shepherd dogs in the epidemiology of salmonellosis, fecal samples were taken from 38 shepherd dogs in Garmsar Province. Salmonella strains were isolated from 4 dogs (10.5%) related to 3 sheep flocks. All of the strains were confirmed at the genus level using invA virulence gene PCR. Serotyping confirmed all of the strains as Salmonella Reading. To study the clonal relatedness of the isolates, the strains were subjected to RAPD-PCR, and antimicrobial resistance patterns were also determined using 9 antibacterials. The similar RAPD-PCR profiles and resistance patterns strongly suggested that the shepherd dogs in the present study shed a similar clone of S. Reading; therefore, shepherd do...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of STEC and EPEC strains and E. coli O157 serogroup in some Equidae and Canidae. The fecal samples of 79 animals from 6 different species were evaluated for presence of these... more
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of STEC and EPEC strains and E. coli O157 serogroup in some Equidae and Canidae. The fecal samples of 79 animals from 6 different species were evaluated for presence of these strains. All the Isolates were tested for virulence genes using multiplex-PCR. Non-sorbitol fermenting (NSF) Escherichia coli isolates and positive strains for virulence factors were subjected to serogroupe specific PCR for rfb O157 gene. None of the STEC, EPEC and NFS strains in this study belonged to O157 serogroupe. While 36.64% of animals carried strains positive for one or more of the virulence factors tested, and 18.9% of animals harbored STEC strains (stx1), stx2 was not detected in this study. eae and Ehly positive strains were found in 3.79% and 22.7% of animals respectively. In conclusion, these species can act as a reservoir for EPEC and STEC strains. Also, since the study was conducted in some parts of Iran, a more accurate conclusion needs mor...
This study aimed to evaluate prevalence, characteristics, genotypic diversity and antibacterial susceptibility of Escherichia coli encoding Shiga toxin 2f in domestic pigeons in different provinces of Iran. A total of 117 faecal samples... more
This study aimed to evaluate prevalence, characteristics, genotypic diversity and antibacterial susceptibility of Escherichia coli encoding Shiga toxin 2f in domestic pigeons in different provinces of Iran. A total of 117 faecal samples were collected from pigeons and were subjected to molecular detection of stx2f. In total, 20, 25·8, 21·4 and 9% of pigeons from Tehran, Ferdows, Garmsar and Babol cities carried stx2f+ isolates, respectively. Of the 460 E. coli isolates examined, 43 were stx2f+ and most also carried eae (95·3%) and astA (97·7%) genes. Some of the stx2f+ isolates harboured cnf (9·3%), but all were negative for stx1, stx2 (other subtypes) and ehly. Most Strains (90%) were assigned to B1 phylogroup and possessed Intimin-β. Fingerprinting of the stx2f+ isolates using either enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequences (ERIC) or random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-polymerase chain reaction revealed seven distinct profiles by each method, with one prevaili...
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The virulence properties of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains isolated from diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic calves were compared. The strains were also tested for O157:H7, O111 and O26 serotypes, using PCR and... more
The virulence properties of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains isolated from diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic calves were compared. The strains were also tested for O157:H7, O111 and O26 serotypes, using PCR and conventional serotyping methods. E coli strains isolated from 297 faecal samples, from 200 diarrhoeic and 97 non-diarrhoeic calves, were screened by multiplex PCR assay for the stx1, stx2, eae and Ehly virulence genes. STECs were recovered from 8 per cent of diarrhoeic calves and 10.3 per cent of non-diarrhoeic calves. The predominant virulence gene profile was stx1/eae/Ehly (47.3 per cent) among isolates from diarrhoeic calves and eae/Ehly (36.8 per cent) among isolates from non-diarrhoeic calves. Among three tested serogroups, the predominant serogroup was O26 (18.4 per cent), and O157:H7 was not detected. Intimin subtyping by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis revealed only three intimin subtypes (β, γ and ). A significant difference was observed in the distribution of Int- between two groups. Int- was present in 50 per cent of the isolates from diarrhoeic calves and in 11.1 per cent of the isolates from non-diarrhoeic calves; this difference was statistically significant (P=0.01).
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ABSTRACT To investigate the prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strains in Iranian camels, E. coli strains isolated from fecal samples of 125 slaughtered camels were subjected to... more
ABSTRACT To investigate the prevalence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strains in Iranian camels, E. coli strains isolated from fecal samples of 125 slaughtered camels were subjected to PCR for detection of stx1, stx2, eaeA and Ehly genes. The strains determined positive were then tested for O157:H7, O111 and O26 serotypes and bfpA gene using PCR. In addition, the intimin subtype of eaeA-positive isolates was determined by PCR-RFLP and sequencing. EPEC strains, none of which belonged to the tested serogroups, were detected in 2.4% (3 out of 125) of stool samples, whereas no STEC strain was detected. The eaeA-positive isolates were considered as atypical EPEC due to lack of bfpA gene, two of which contained beta intimin subtype. To our knowledge, this is the first molecular description of EPEC strains in camels.
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Page 1. BRIEF COMMUNICATION Isolation of Enterococcus raffinosus from an ostrich chick with diarrhoea Taghi Zahraei Salehi & Mahdi Askari Badouei & Mohammad Mahdi Ghaffari & Mahmood Khormali Received:... more
Page 1. BRIEF COMMUNICATION Isolation of Enterococcus raffinosus from an ostrich chick with diarrhoea Taghi Zahraei Salehi & Mahdi Askari Badouei & Mohammad Mahdi Ghaffari & Mahmood Khormali Received: 25 March ...
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The presence of major virulence factors of enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC; stx1, stx2, eae, Ehly) were determined among isolates from 158 diarrhoeic calves by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Strains positive for... more
The presence of major virulence factors of enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC; stx1, stx2, eae, Ehly) were determined among isolates from 158 diarrhoeic calves by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Strains positive for virulence factors were subjected to serotype specific PCR assays for O157:H7 and O111 antigens. Additionally, serogroups were determined by three monovalent antisera for O26, O111 and O157 somatic