Cow raw milk cheese is widely eaten in Brazil. These products may be contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. In this work, we investigated the presence of Escherichia coli in raw milk cheese from different States in Brazil. From 147 "Minas" cheese samples, 28 cheeses were positive for E. coli. Among 39 E. coli isolates of the cheeses, one was positive for eae and negative for bpfA and efa1/lifA using PCR, and so was classified as atypical Enteropathogenic E. coli (aEPEC). Two other isolates were positive for extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) genes. The aEPEC isolate belongs to serogroup O127 and was classified in A phylogenetic group, and ExPEC isolates were found in O73:H12 (EC-2 strain) and O64474:H8 (EC-9 strain) serotype. This ExPEC belongs to A and C phylogenetic group, respectively. Most of E. coli strains belonged to Clermont phylogenetic groups A (28.2%), C, and E (23.1%). Six strains (15.4%) of E. coli were positive for group B1 and two (5.1%) for B2. E. coli isolates presented an aggregative (46.0%) and diffuse (12.6%) adherence pattern to HeLa cells, and the other isolates did not show adhesion (41.4%). Four E. coli isolates (10.3%) were shown to produce moderate biofilm. The antimicrobial resistance rate was tetracycline (25.6%), followed by ampicillin (17.9%), cefoxitin (7.7%), nalidixic acid (5.1%), and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (2.6%). One strain was resistant to three antimicrobials (tetracycline, ampicillin, and nalidixic acid). The presence of these microorganisms, the O127 strain, and a new serogroup in Brazil is a potential risk for public health.
Keywords: antimicrobial resistance; diarrheagenic E. coli; extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli; raw milk cheese.