Prevalence, serotypes and pathogenicity of Escherichia coli associated with diarrhoea in goats

Abstract

Strains (92) of Escherichia coli were isolated from 200 rectal swabs collected from diarrhoeic goats belonging to different age groups; the highest incidence (50%) was recorded in I-week old kids. The isolates were characterized on the basis of morphological, cultural and biochemical characteristics. Few atypical strains showing variation in biochemical and sugar reactions were also recovered. Out of 92 isolates, 80 were typable into 19'0' serogroups, while 12 were untypable . The serotypes isolated were: 0149, 050, 08, 086, 0116, 0105, 036, 061, 039, 041, 0102, 0170, 022, 043, 058, 0101,0109, 0163 and 0168 in decreasing order of frequency. The selected strains of group 08, 022, 041, 061, 086, 0101, 0116, 0149 and 0169 and 9 untypable strains were found pathogenic to mice on intraperitoneal inoculation. Epidemiology of enteric colibacillosis is discussed.