Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
E coli types found more in dogs with acute and chronic diarrhea
By Sancak, A A et al.·Published in The Veterinary record·2004·Department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Prevalence of enteropathic Escherichia coli in dogs with acute and chronic diarrhoea.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that many dogs with diarrhea were infected with certain types of E. coli bacteria. Out of 57 dogs with acute diarrhea, 35% had enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), while 25% had verocytotoxin-producing E. coli (VTEC). In dogs with chronic diarrhea, 32% had EPEC and 28% had VTEC. These bacteria were not commonly found in healthy household dogs or those in kennels. The findings suggest that these E. coli infections could be a significant cause of diarrhea in dogs, and treatment may involve addressing these bacterial infections.
People also search for: dog diarrhea causes · E. coli infection in dogs · treatment for dog diarrhea · chronic diarrhea in dogs · signs of dog gastrointestinal issues
Abstract
Samples of faeces from 57 dogs with acute diarrhoea, 82 dogs with chronic diarrhoea, 34 clinically healthy household dogs and 88 kennelled control dogs were analysed by hybridisation, using DNA probes to detect enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and enterotoxigenic E coli (ETEC), verocytotoxin-producing E coli (VTEC), enterohaemorrhagic E coli (EHEC), enteroinvasive E coli (EIEC) and enteroaggregative E coli (EAggEC). Samples of duodenal juice from 60 of the 82 dogs with chronic diarrhoea were also examined. Significantly more of the dogs with diarrhoea were excreting EPEC (acute 35.1 per cent, chronic 31.7 per cent) and VTEC (acute 24.6 per cent, chronic 28 per cent) than the kennelled dogs (EPEC 17.1 per cent, VTEC 0 per cent) or the household control dogs (EPEC 6 per cent, VTEC 5.9 per cent). Enteropathic E coli was also detected in the duodenal juice of 23 of 60 (38.3 per cent) of the dogs with chronic diarrhoea. The EPEC attaching and effacing A (eaeA) gene and the verocytotoxin 1 (VR1) gene coding for VTEC were often found together. There was good agreement between in vitro studies and hybridisation for the detection of eaeA and VT1. Isolates from the dogs with diarrhoea adhered significantly more to Hep-2 cells, and VT1-positive strains from the dogs with diarrhoea consistently killed more than 50 per cent of Vero cells.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14765895/