Patent ID: 8900809

Claim:
A method for determining whether a sample contains a Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli strain by detecting the presence of at least one polymorphism in a O-antigen operon encoding nucleic acid, the method comprising: a) providing a nucleic acid sample, b) contacting the sample with at least one forward amplification primer and at least one reverse amplification primer, c) amplifying a segment of the O-antigen operon encoding nucleic acid of the sample to form an amplified product, wherein the amplified product is hybridized with an oligonucleotide selected from a group consisting of SEQ. ID Nos: 2, 5, and 8 with the oligonucleotide bound by said amplification primers; and d) detecting the presence of the amplified product, wherein the presence of the amplified product indicates the presence of a Shiga toxin producing isolate Escherichia coli strain.