Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Elsevier - PMC COVID-19 Collection logoLink to Elsevier - PMC COVID-19 Collection
. 2002 Nov 13;12(3):241–253. doi: 10.1016/0378-1135(86)90053-2

Dysentery in calves caused by an atypical strain of Escherichia coli (S102-9)

N Chanter 1, GA Hall 1, AP Bland 1, AJ Hayle 1, KR Parsons 1
PMCID: PMC7117321  PMID: 3535233

Abstract

Dysentery lasting 4–8 days was produced in five 4-day-old colostrum-fed calves, after inoculation with an atypical strain of Escherichia coli S102-9; peak excretion of S102-9 occurred during the period of dysentery. Two calves were killed when clinical signs were most severe and bacteria were seen attached to the surfaces of enterocytes in the large intestine; microscopic lesions were seen in these areas. The lesions were identical to those previously reported in a natural outbreak of dysentery in calves, from which E. coli S102-9 was isolated, and to those seen in gnotobiotic calves experimentally infected with S102-9. Reinfection of the three surviving calves 16–20 days later with S102-9 and primary infection of two calves aged 24 and 51 days did not cause dysentery. Four of 659 coliforms isolated from field outbreaks of calf diarrhoea resembled the atypical strain S102-9. These four isolates and S102-9 did not produce heat-stable enterotoxin, but all produced a toxin cytopathic for Vero and HeLa cells. Two of the four isolates were inoculated alone into 4-day-old gnotobiotic calves deprived of colostrum; neither calf developed dysentery but microscopic lesions identical to those produced by S102-9 were detected in the large intestines of both animals.

References

  1. Anon. Mechanisms in enteropathogenic Escherichia coli diarrhoea. Lancet. 1983;i:1254–1256. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bridger J.C., Hall G.A. Effects of a calicivirus-like agent (The Newbury Agent) on gnotobiotic calves. Colloques Inserm. 1979;90:233–236. [Google Scholar]
  3. Burrows M.R., Sellwood R., Gibbons R.A. Haemagglutinating and adhesive properties associated with K99 antigen of bovine strains of Escherichia coli. J. Gen. Microbiol. 1976;96:269–275. doi: 10.1099/00221287-96-2-269. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chanter N., Morgan J.H., Bridger J.C., Hall G.A., Reynolds D.J. Dysentery in gnotobiotic calves caused by atypical Escherichia coli. Vet. Rec. 1984;114:71. doi: 10.1136/vr.114.3.71. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cowan S.T., Steel K.G. 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press; 1974. Identification of Medical Bacteria; p. 108. [Google Scholar]
  6. De Rycke J., Boivin R., Le Roux Ph. Evidence of Escherichia coli with bacteraemic properties in mucoid enteritis of newborn calves. Ann. Rech. Vet. 1982;13:385–397. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dennis M.J., Davies D.C., Hoare M.N. A simplified apparatus for the microbiological isolation of calves. Br. Vet. J. 1976;132:642–646. doi: 10.1016/s0007-1935(17)34542-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Evans D.G., Evans D.J., Gorbach S.L. Identification of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and serum antitoxic activity by the vascular permeability factor assay. Infect. Immun. 1973;8:731–735. doi: 10.1128/iai.8.5.731-735.1973. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Guinee P.A.M., Jansen W.H., Wadstrom T., Sellwood R. Escherichia coli associated with neonatal diarrhoea in piglets and calves. Curr. Top. Vet. Med. Anim. Sci. 1981;13:126–128. [Google Scholar]
  10. Hall G.A., Reynolds D.J., Chanter N., Morgan J.H., Parsons K.R., Debney T.G., Bland A.P., Bridger J.C. Dysentery caused by Escherichia coli (S102-9) in calves: natural and experimental disease. Vet. Pathol. 1985;22:156–163. doi: 10.1177/030098588502200210. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Isaacson R.E. Pili of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. In: Acres S.D., Farman A.J., Fasty H., editors. Proc. Third. Int. Symp. Neonatal Diarrhoea; Saskatoon, Canada; VIDO; 1981. pp. 213–236. [Google Scholar]
  12. Jones P.W., Collins P., Brown G.T.H., Aitken M.M. Salmonella saint-paul infection in two dairy heads. J. Hyg., Camb. 1983;91:243–257. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400060253. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Konowulchuk J., Dickie N., Stavric S., Spiers T.I. Properties of an Escherichia coli cytotoxin. Infect. Immun. 1978;20:575–577. doi: 10.1128/iai.20.2.575-577.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Mackie T.J., MacCartney J.E. 9th edn. 1953. p. 181. (Handbook of Practical Bacteriology). Edinburgh, Livingstone. [Google Scholar]
  15. McEwan A.D., Fisher E.W., Selman I.E., Penhale W.J. A turbidity test for the estimation of immune globulin levels in neonatal calf serum. Clin. Chim. Acta. 1970;27:155–163. doi: 10.1016/0009-8981(70)90390-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Moon H.W., Whipp S.C., Argenzio R.A., Levine M.M., Gianella R.A. Attaching and effacing activities of rabbit and human enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in pig and rabbit intestines. Infect. Immun. 1983;41:1340–1351. doi: 10.1128/iai.41.3.1340-1351.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. O'Brien A.D., La Veck G.D., Thompson M.R., Formal S.B. Production of Shigella dysenteriae type 1-like cytotoxin by Escherichia coli. J. Infect. Dis. 1982;146:763–769. doi: 10.1093/infdis/146.6.763. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Orskov I., Orskov F., Smith H.W., Sojka W.J. The establishment of K99, a thermolabile, transmissible Escherichia coli K antigen, previously called ‘Kco’, possessed by calf and lamb enteropathogenic strains. Acta Pathol. Microbiol. Scand. 1975;83:31–36. doi: 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1975.tb00066.x. Sect. B. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Parsons K.R., Wilson A.M., Hall G.A., Bridger J.C., Chanter N., Reynolds D.J. Localisation of enteropathogens in paraffin embedded tissue by immunoperoxidase. J. Clin. pathol. 1984;37:645–650. doi: 10.1136/jcp.37.6.645. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Reynolds D.J., Chasey D., Scott A.C., Bridger J.C. Evaluation of ELISA and electron microscopy for the detection of coronavirus and rotavirus in bovine faeces. Vet. Rec. 1984;114:397–401. doi: 10.1136/vr.114.16.397. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Rothbaum R., McAdams A.J., Gianella R.A., Partin J.C. A clinico-pathologic study of enterocyte-adherent Escherichia coli: a cause of protracted diarrhoea in infants. Gastroenterology. 1982;83:441–444. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Smith H.W., Halls S. Observations by the ligated intestinal segment and oral inoculation methods on Escherichia coli infections in pigs, calves, lambs and rabbits. J. Pathol. Bacteriol. 1967;93:499–529. doi: 10.1002/path.1700930211. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Sojka W.J. Escherichia coli in Domestic Animals and Poultry. Review Series no. 7 of the Commonwealth Bureaux of Animal Health. 1965:206. Weybridge. [Google Scholar]
  24. Sternberger L.A., Hardy P.H., Cuculis J.J., Meyer H.G. The unlabelled antibody enzyme method of immunohistochemistry: preparation and properties of soluble antigen-antibody complex (horseradish peroxidase-anti-horseradish peroxidase) and its use in the identification of spirochaetes. J. Histochem. Cytochem. 1970;18:315–333. doi: 10.1177/18.5.315. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Takeuchi A., Inman L.R., O'Hanley P.D., Cantey J.R., Lushbaugh W.B. Scanning and transmission electron microscopic study of Escherichia coli OIS (RDEC-1) enteric infections in rabbits. Infect. Immun. 1978;19:686–694. doi: 10.1128/iai.19.2.686-694.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Veterinary Microbiology are provided here courtesy of Elsevier

RESOURCES