This experiment was carried out in order to evaluate the effect of the raw milk bacterial count on the efficiency of a multiplex polymerase chain reaction and a conventional plate count method for detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7. This pathogen was experimentally inoculated into sterile milk, raw milk with low bacterial count (count mean of 4.01 x 10³ cfu/ml) and, raw milk with high bacterial count (mean 2.10 x 10(6) cfu/ml). Two protocols of PCR were standardized using primers "A" (Rfbf and Rfbr and FLICh7F/FLICh7R) and "B" (SLT-IF/SLTIR and SLT-IIF/SLT-IIR). Both conventional plate count and PCR methods were able to detect the presence of E. coli O157:H7 in either sterile milk or raw milk with low bacterial count initially inoculated with 1cfu of E. coli O157:H7 per ml. The sensibility of both methods for high-contaminated raw milk samples was lower, being the conventional approach more sensitive. These results indicate that high bacterial count in raw milk can affect E. coli O157:H7 detection.
PCR multiplex; E. coli O157:H7; O157 antigen; H7 antigen; shiga-like toxin genes
