Internalization of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 and Salmonella Typhimurium in Biologically Damaged Fresh Produce

Consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables has steadily increased since they are considered as an important part of healthy diet. However, the consumption of fresh produces posses' greater risk of pathogenic infections because most fruits and vegetables host endophytic human pathogens and eaten raw. Most of the fresh outbreaks were related to Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella typhimurium. In present study, the effect of phytopathogen infection on internalization of enteric human pathogen was also evaluated. For this study, all the fresh produces were artificially challenged with predominantly existing plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris. After disease induction the infected plants were surface inoculated and then the internalization capacity were monitored. The results indicated that Xanthomonas campestris infected plants bear significantly higher endophytic pathogenic population as compared to healthy plant (control). These results revealed that, phytopathogen promotes the internalization of bacterial human pathogens by providing favorable conditions with respect to nutrition, water availability and through wound produced by pathogens; human pathogen can get easily infiltered.