Indian Journal of Comparative Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases

The study reports an investigation of acute gastroenteritis outbreak in an unorganised pig farm in Nagaland, India. Faecal samples were collected from 20 pigs including 4 severely diarrhoeic piglets and were processed for detection of Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Clostridium spp., Rotavirus, Picobirnavirus as well as parasitic eggs and larvae. A total of 56 E. coli were isolated, all of which were found to be negative for any putative virulence genes of shigatoxigenic E. coli, enterotoxigenic E. coli, enterohaemorrhagic E. coli and enteropathogenic E. coli pathotypes. From affected piglets, four salmonellae were isolated, which was recorded as Salmonella infantis, Salmonella typhimurium and two Salmonellae as unidentified serovars. Both S. infantis and S. typhimurium were found positive for enterotoxin (stn) by polymerase chain reaction. However, no samples were found to be positive for viral and parasitic pathogens under the study. The isolated salmonellae were resistance to commonly used drugs, such as enrofloxacin, cefalexin and ampicillin. The study indicated the involvement of S. infantis, S. typhimurium and Salmonella unidentified serovars with piglet diarrhoea in Nagaland.