Virulence factors of Escherichia coli isolated from diarrhoeic piglets in large farms

The purpose of the study was to determine particular virulence factors and sensitivity to antimicrobial agents of E.coli strains isolated from diarrhoeic pigs in north-east Poland. The isolated strains were investigated for the presence of fimbriae with the following antigenic specificity: F4, F5, F6, F17, F18 and F41. Out of 204 strains only four possessed fimbriae F41, two - F17 strains and two - F4 strains. None of the genetic element coding for LT, STa, STb enterotoxins and shiga variant toxin was -detected in any of the studied strains. More than 90% of the E. coli strains were sensitive tb:gentamycin, excenel, enrofoxacin amoxycillin, lincospectin, flumequine and apramycin. The range of strains that were sensitive to neomycin, nitrofurantoin, colistin and chloramfenicol was less and amounted to 87.25%, 75.5%, 75.48% and 65.6% respectively. Only 53.92%, 51%, and 50% of the strains were sensitive to coliprim, streptomycin and ampicillin. Tetracycline showed the least antimicrobial activity in the present study. Only 8.8% of the strains were susceptible to the above antibiotic.