*3.2. Identification of Virulence Genes among* E. coli *Isolates*

Samples which generated fluorescence from the Quanti-tray®/2000 cells were selected for the identification of the *E. coli* VGs. The most detected pathotypes were the NMEC and EHEC while the least detected pathotype was EAEC (Table 3). Of the 100 isolates tested for the VGs, 28% were identified as *ibeA* positive (Figure 1). The EAEC pathotype (*eagg* gene) was not detected among the tested isolates. Similarly, the *Stx1* gene of EHEC was not detected in any of the isolates.

**Figure 1.** Overall prevalence of virulence genes in isolated *E. coli* from harvested rainwater (HRW) tanks.


