Proliferative enterocolitis associated with dual infection with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and Lawsonia intracellularis in rabbits.
Both enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and an obligate intracellular bacterium, previously referred to as an intracellular Campylobacter-like organism and now designated Lawsonia intracellularis, have been reported as causes of enterocolitis in rabbits. An outbreak of enterocolitis in a group of rabbits, characterized by an unusually high rate of mortality, was found to be associated with dual infection with EPEC and L. intracellularis. The EPEC strain was found to have eaeA gene homology but was negative for afrA homology. The absence of the afrA gene, which encodes the structural subunit for the AF/R1 pilus, indicates that this rabbit EPEC strain is distinct from the prototypic RDEC-1 strain. This finding suggests that rabbit EPEC strains widely reported in Western Europe, which lack AF/R1 pili, are also present in rabbits in the United States. Dual infection with these two pathogens in rabbits has not been previously reported and may have contributed to the unusually high mortality observed in this outbreak.
Schauer
D B
DB
Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA. schauer@mit.edu
McCathey
S N
SN
Daft
B M
BM
Jha
S S
SS
Tatterson
L E
LE
Taylor
N S
NS
Fox
J G
JG
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D000818:Animals; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000032:analysis; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004760:Enterocolitis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D006090:Gram-Negative Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D007082:Ileum / Q000382:microbiology; D011817:Rabbits
D018829:Adhesins, Bacterial; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C073819:eaeA protein, E coli