PREVALENCE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ENTEROPATHOGENIC ESCHERICHIA-COLI WITH THE EAE GENE IN DIARRHEIC RABBITS

A field study was carried out with the objective of investigating the prevalence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) with the eae ge ne in diarrhoeic rabbits, EPEC eae(+) were isolated from 60 (74%) of 8 1 diarrhoeic rabbits sampled in 30 industrial fattening farms localize d in the four provinces of Galicia (northwestern Spain), Attaching and effacing lesions were found in 44 of 50 animals processed for histolo gy. The 111 E. coli strains identified belonged to 19 different O sero groups and 13 biotypes, However, 53 (48%) of the strains belonged to s erogroup O103 and 36 (32%) showed the serobiotype O103:B14. The eae ge ne was significantly more frequent (100%; 47 of 47) among the highly p athogenic rhamnose-negative strains of serobiotypes O103:B6 and O103:B 14 than among the E. coli strains belonging to other serobiotypes (36% ; 23 of 64) (P<0.001), In this first report about the prevalence of EP EC with the eae gene in rabbits, we conclude that the class of E. coli strains observed is a common cause of diarrhoea in Galician rabbit fa rms, and that highly pathogenic rhamnose-negative strains of serotype O103:K-:H2 and biotype B14 are specially predominant.