Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Isolation of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli from a foal with diarrhea.
- Journal:
- Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
- Year:
- 1989
- Authors:
- Holland, R E et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
A 3-day-old foal was found to have diarrhea, and tests showed that it had a specific type of bacteria called enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, which can cause illness. Researchers identified this harmful bacteria by checking for certain features, like tiny hair-like structures (pili) and the ability to produce a toxin. They used special tests to confirm the presence of these features and ruled out other possible causes of the diarrhea. Based on their findings, they concluded that this particular strain of E. coli was the reason for the foal's diarrhea.
Abstract
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli was isolated from a 3-day-old foal with diarrhea. The isolate was distinguished from nonpathogenic E coli by determining the presence of pili and enterotoxin production. A standard slide agglutination test was performed, using pooled antisera that contained antibodies against K99 and F41 pilus antigens, K87 capsular antigen, and 0101 somatic antigen. Agglutination of the antisera occurred in the presence of the isolate. Piliation was verified by use of negative-contrast electron microscopy. Further, the isolate produced a heat-labile enterotoxin-like antigen that cross-reacted with a reagent containing formalin-treated, heat-killed Staphylococcus aureus (cowan 1 strain) bearing anti-cholera antibodies. On the basis of the aforementioned procedures and the absence of other identifiable enteric pathogens, we believe that E coli was responsible for causing diarrhea in the foal.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2563724/