title: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strains are highly prevalent in Ugandan piggeries but disease outbreaks are masked by antibiotic prophylaxis.
abstract: Post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is an important disease of newly weaned piglets. ETEC strains commonly express F4 and/or F18 fimbriae that attach to carbohydrate receptors present on the intestinal epithelium during colonization. The disease status in the Ugandan piggeries had previously not been studied. In this cross-sectional sero-survey and clinical outbreak monitoring, we found very high sero-prevalence levels of both anti-F4 (70.5%) and anti-F18 (73.7%) antibodies, despite limited cases of clinical outbreaks. Strains isolated from these cases were typically F18(+) ETEC. High antibiotic resistance and multi-drug resistance were characteristics of the isolates, with highest resistance level of over 95% to commonly used antibiotics such as penicillin and tetracycline. We conclude that ETEC infections are widely spread on farms in Central Uganda but clinical disease outbreaks were masked by the management practices on these farms, like the use of extensive antibiotic prophylaxis.
authors.affiliation: Structural and Molecular Microbiology, Structural Biology Research Center, VIB, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Okello
authors.forename: Kristof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Moonens
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Erume
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: De Greve
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D019072:Antibiotic Prophylaxis / Q000379:methods*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D054307:Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000662:veterinary*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D010861:Fimbriae, Bacterial; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D013552:Swine / Q000382:microbiology; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology; D014886:Weaning
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D036781:Fimbriae Proteins