Investigation of Serotype Prevalence of Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Layer Poultry in Greece and Interactions with Other Infectious Agents

Veterinary Sciences

卷:9

Giovanni Franzo¹  Mattia Cecchinato¹  Labrini V. Athanasiou²  Konstantinos C. Koutoulis³  Dimitrios Koutsianos³  Dimitris Mossialos⁴ 

[1]Department of Animal Medicine, Production and Health (MAPS), University of Padua, 35020 Legnaro, Italy

[2]|Department of Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Science, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, 43100 Karditsa, Greece

[3]|Department of Poultry Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, 43100 Karditsa, Greece

[4]|Laboratory of Microbial Biotechnology-Molecular Bacteriology-Virology, Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Biopolis, 41500 Larissa, Greece

关键词: commercial layers;    Escherichia coli;    layer breeder;    predisposing factor;    O-serogroup;   

DOI  :  10.3390/vetsci9040152

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Colibacillosis is the most common bacterial disease in poultry and it is caused by avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC), which is assigned to various O-serogroups. Previous studies have shown that APEC strains are more often related to certain O-serogroups such asO78, O2 and O1. E. coli has been reported to act either as a primary or secondary agent in complicating other infections. The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of and characterize the O-serogroups of E. coli strains isolated from commercial layer and layer breeder flocks showing macroscopic lesions of colibacillosis and increased or normal mortality in Greece. Furthermore, we attempted to assess the interaction between infectious agents such as Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG), Mycoplasma synoviae (MS), infectious bronchitis (IBV) and infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) with E. coli infections in layer flocks with increased mortality. Our study revealed that in addition to the common serogroups (O78, O2), many other, and less common serogroups were identified, including O111. The O78, O111 and O2 serogroups were frequently detected in flocks with lesions of colibacillosis and increased mortality whereas O2, O88 and O8 were reported more commonly in birds with colibacillosis lesions but normal mortality rates. These data provide important information for colibacillosis monitoring and define preventative measures, especially by using effective vaccination programs because E. coli vaccines are reported to mainly offer homologous protection. Finally, concerning the association of the four tested infectious agents with E. coli mortality, our study did not reveal a statistically significant effect of the above infectious agents tested with E. coli infection mortality.

【 授权许可】

Unknown