Adherence of Enterococcus hirae to the duodenal epithelium of chicks with diarrhoea.
A flock of commercial layer chicks in Hokkaido, Japan experienced mortality of 3.53% over the first 7 days of life. Affected chicks were depressed, anorexic and had diarrhoea. The striking pathological feature was dense colonization of epithelial surface of the duodenum by Enterococcus hirae. There was no obvious damage to the enterocytes associated with bacterial adherence. Enterococcus hirae organisms were isolated in large numbers from the small intestines, together with Escherichia coli.
Kondo
H
H
Kamikawa Livestock Hygiene Service Center, Asahikawa, Hokkaido, 071, Japan.
Abe
N
N
Tsukuda
K
K
Wada
Y
Y