Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli and salmonellae in calves and lambs in Kashmir absence, prevalence and antibiogram.

Abstract

Polymerase chain reaction assays and culture were used to investigate 728 faecal samples from 404 calves (286 diarrhoeic, 118 healthy) and 324 lambs (230 diarrhoeic, 94 healthy) in Kashmir, India, for the presence of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), diffusely adherent E. coli (DAEC) and salmonellae. Antimicrobial sensitivity patterns were also investigated. In total, 23 ETEC isolates were obtained from the diarrhoeic calves and 12 from diarrhoeic lambs. Most (74%) of the isolates from calves harboured the gene encoding heat-labile enterotoxin I, whereas 75% of the isolates from lambs possessed only the gene encoding for heat-stable enterotoxin a. The ETEC isolates belonged to 20 serogroups, among which serogroups O15 (five isolates) and O8 (four isolates) were the most frequent. Salmonella Typhimurium or S. Enteritidis was identified in three samples from diarrhoeic lambs. The ETEC isolates and the salmonellae showed multidrug resistance. No EAEC or DAEC was detected in any of the samples.