Method for detecting escherichia coli and carrier for detecting escherichia coli

This invention makes it possible, with high specificity, to detect the presence or absence of Escherichia coli regardless of pathogenicity while simultaneously detecting the presence or absence of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli that causes foodborne illness. In this method for detecting Escherichia coli, in which enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli and Escherichia coli (including enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli) are detected simultaneously, using a template consisting of genome DNA extracted from a sample, multiplex PCR is used to simultaneously amplify a DNA fragment containing the uridine monophosphate kinase gene (pyrH) of Escherichia coli, a DNA fragment containing the verotoxin 1 gene (vtx1) of Escherichia coli, and a DNA fragment containing the verotoxin 2 gene (vtx2) of Escherichia coli. By detecting the presence or absence of each amplification product, the presence or absence of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli in the sample and the presence or absence of Escherichia coli in the sample are detected simultaneously.