Bavo Verhaegen

Mr. Bavo Verhaegen


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

11Years (2016-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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18 May 2016 in Toxins
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
BVBavo Verhaegen
Bavo Verhaegen
KRKoen De Reu
Koen De Reu
LZLieven De Zutter
Lieven De Zutter
KVKaren Verstraete
Karen Verstraete
Marc HeyndrickxMarc Heyndrickx
Marc Heyndrickx
ECEls Van Coillie
Els Van Coillie
Cattle are considered to be the main reservoir for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and are often the direct or indirect source of STEC outbreaks in humans. Accurate measurement of the concentration of shed STEC in cattle feces could be a key answer to questions concerning transmission of STEC, contamination sources and efficiency of treatments at farm level. Infected animals can be identified and the contamination level quantified by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR), which has its specific limitations. Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) has been proposed as a method to overcome many of the drawbacks of qPCR. This end-point amplification PCR is capable of absolute quantification independent from any reference material and is less prone to PCR inhibition than qPCR. In this study, the qPCR-based protocol described by Verstraete et al. (2014) for Shiga toxin genes stx1 and stx2 and the intimin gene eae quantification was optimized for ddPCR analysis. The properties of ddPCR and qPCR using two different mastermixes (EMM: TaqMan® Environmental Master Mix 2.0; UMM: TaqMan® Universal PCR Master Mix) were evaluated, using standard curves and both artificial and natural contaminated cattle fecal samples. In addition, the susceptibility of these assays to PCR-inhibitors was investigated. Evaluation of the standard curves and both artificial and natural contaminated cattle fecal samples suggested a very good agreement between qPCR using EMM and ddPCR. Furthermore, similar sensitivities and no PCR inhibition were recorded for both assays. On the other hand, qPCR using UMM was clearly prone to PCR inhibition. In conclusion, the ddPCR technique shows potential for the accurate absolute quantification of STEC on the farms, without relying on standardized reference material.