title: Prevalence of virulence factors in enterotoxigenicEscherichia coliisolated from pigs with post-weaning diarrhoea in Europe.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD), due toEscherichia coli, is an important cause of economic losses to the pig industry primarily as a result of mortality and worsened productive performance. In spite of its relevance, recent data about the prevalence of virulence genes and pathotypes amongE. coliisolates recovered from cases of PWD in Europe are scarce.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This study investigates the prevalence of fimbrial and toxin genes ofE. coliby PCR among 280 farms with PWD across Europe. A total of 873 samples collected within the first 48 h after the onset of PWD (occurring 7-21 days post weaning) were submitted to the laboratory for diagnostic purposes. Isolation and identification ofE. coliwere performed following standard bacteriological methods and PCR assays for the detection of genes encoding for fimbriae (F4, F5, F6, F18 and F41) and toxins (LT, STa, STb and Stx2e). The prevalence of fimbriae and toxins amongE. coliisolates from cases of PWD was: F4 (45.1 %), F18 (33.9 %), F5 (0.6 %), F6 (0.6 %), F41 (0.3 %), STb (59.1 %), STa (38.1 %), LT (31.9 %) and Stx2e (9.7 %).E. coliisolates carrying both fimbrial and toxin genes were detected in 52.5 % of the cases (178 out of 339 isolates), with 94.9 % of them being classified as enterotoxigenicE. coli(ETEC). The most common virotype detected was F4, STb, LT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study confirms that ETEC is frequently isolated in pig farms with PWD across Europe, with F4- and F18-ETEC variants involved in 36.1 % and 18.2 % of the outbreaks, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna (IZSLER), via Pitagora 2, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luppi
authors.affiliation: Elanco Animal Health, Divisione veterinaria Eli Lilly Italia Spa, Via A. Gramsci, 731, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, FI Italy.
authors.forename: Mariavittoria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gibellini
authors.affiliation: Elanco Animal Health, 24 Boulevard Vital Bouhot, 92521 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gin
authors.affiliation: Elanco Animal Health Benelux, Plantijn en Moretuslei 1 -3rd floor, 2018 Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vangroenweghe
authors.affiliation: Dierengezondheidszorg (DGZ) Vlaanderen, Industrielaan 29, 8820 Torhout, Belgium.
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vandenbroucke
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hygiene and Infectious Diseases of Animals, Justus Liebig University, Frankfurter Str. 85-89, 35392 Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bauerfeind
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna (IZSLER), via Pitagora 2, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bonilauri
authors.affiliation: Elanco Animal Health, 24 Boulevard Vital Bouhot, 92521 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Labarque
authors.affiliation: Elanco Animal Health, Lilly House, Priestley Road, Basingstoke, RG249NL UK.
authors.forename: Álvaro
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Hidalgo
keywords: ETEC; Escherichia coli; Post-weaning diarrhoea; Prevalence