Alternative Rapid Tests for the Detection of EHEC

The current outbreaks of E coli infections show if painful stomach cramps and/or bloody diarrhoea occur, infection with EHEC bacteria must be suspected. This suspicion needs to be clarified immediately, as one of the severe complications caused by the EHEC infection can be the life-threatening haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

The main sources of infection are usually contaminated, raw or insufficiently heated foods of animal origin, i.e. meat and dairy products. However, as the latest cases show, infection from vegetables and salads cannot be ruled out. Duopath® Verotoxins and Singlepath® E.coli O157 from Merck make the detection of E. coli bacteria much easier in comparison to other standard methods, especially for food manufacturers and food control labs.

Duopath® Verotoxins
A characteristic feature of this special forms of E. coli which trigger this disease is the build-up of toxins, which can be used to detect this group. These are divided into Verotoxins 1 and Verotoxins 2. Verotoxins are also known as Shiga-like toxins.

Duopath® Verotoxins offers the advantage of determining not just O157 (including H7), but also other E. coli serotypes, such as O26, O103, O111, O145 and O104, indirectly by detecting typical toxins.

Duopath® Verotoxins allows a fast screening, for example, with the advantage that more samples can be processed in a given time. Furthermore, Duopath can be used to confirm the results of classic microbiological tests and save both time and material thanks to its speed.
Its sensitivity is equal to that of traditional methods. Because it is so easy to use, no additional evaluation equipment is necessary. Traditional microbiological methods do not detect the toxins.


Singlepath® E.coli O157
As an immunological rapid test, Singlepath® E.coli O157 makes it possible to detect the well-known serovariant O157.

Advantages of Singlepath® O157

• Faster than classic microbiological methods


• Suitable for both screening and confirmation


• Easy to use


• No additional equipment necessary


• Accuracy corresponds to ELISA method.

Of course, Merck's range also includes the classic culture media for detecting E. coli O157.