Abstract
To provide information on the persistence and maintenance of colonization with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in sheep, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis of STEC isolates (n = 145) belonging to serogroups O5, O91, and O146 from 39 healthy animals was performed in a 12-month longitudinal study carried out with four sheep flocks. At the flock level as well as the individual-animal level, the same clones were obtained on sampling occasions separated by as much as 11 months.