title: Enteric infection and subsequent septicemia due to attaching and effacing Escherichia coli in a Chinchilla.
abstract: An adult male chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera) presented with severe lethargy and tachypnea; the physical examination was otherwise unremarkable. Due to the animal's clinical condition, it was submitted for necropsy but died immediately prior to euthanasia. Clinicopathologic findings included leukocytosis with a left-shift neutrophilia and lymphopenia, azotemia, hyperphosphatemia, hyperglycemia, hyperlipemia, electrolyte imbalance, cholestasis, and hepatocellular damage. Neutrophilic enteritis with gramnegative bacterial colonization, hepatic lipidosis, interstitial pneumonia, suppurative tubulonephritis, erosive gastritis, cerebral edema, and lymphoid depletion were present microscopically. Attaching and effacing, eae-positive, Escherichia coli characterized by the presence of the intimin virulence factor was isolated from both the kidney and spleen. The cause of death was attributed to acute E. coli septicemia and subsequent disseminated intravascular coagulation.
authors: The Tri-Institutional Training Program in Laboratory Animal Medicine and Science, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, The Rockefeller University, and Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA.
authors: Leslie L
authors: LL
authors: Diaz
authors: Michelle
authors: M
authors: Lepherd
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Scott
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002682:Chinchilla; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018805:Sepsis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology