Bacteriological and histopathological studies on mortality associated with Escherichia coli infection in poultry

The present investigation was undertaken to study etio-pathology with special reference to gastrointestinal tract disorders on poultry mortality. Isolation of bacteria was attempted from 50 carcasses of poultry. Escherichia coli was isolated from 39 cases. Fourteen different serotypes [O2 (11), O4 (7), O7 (1), O20 (5), O22 (4), O24 (3), O56 (6), O71 (4), O78 (7), O83 (2), O101 (6), O120 (5), O139 (1) and 0152 (3)] of £ coli were recovered. Five strains were untypeable and 9 were rough. Antibiogram pattern revealed all bacterial agents were most resistant to bacitracin, lincomycin and oxytetracycilne. Majority of isolates were sensitive to ceftrioxone, cefuroxime, amoxyclav, chloramphenicol, gentamycin and amoxycillin. All 79 E.coli isolates possessed plasmids, whose DNA size ranged from 3 Kb to 20 Kb. The results of PCR revealed that all 79 samples were found to be positive for E.coli as they gave an amplified product of 232bp. PCR assay is a rapid, sensitive and specific technique, which can produce results in few hours.