Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Food Safety and Enteric Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #107469
Title: AN UNUSUAL TYPE OF EDEMA DISEASE IN NEONATAL SUCKLING PIGS CAUSED BY ESCHERICHIA COLI O157:H7 STRAIN 86-24 (EUR SOC VET PATHOL [ESVP], NANTES, FRANCE, 9/14-17-99)

Author
item POHLENZ, J - UNIVERSITY OF HANNOVER
item Nystrom, Evelyn

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/17/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: To study the pathogenicity of E. coli O157:H7 strain 86-24, which originated from an outbreak of EHEC in humans, 3 litters of piglets suckling their mothers (n=30), were inoculated orally with 10**10 CFU of strain 86-24 bacteria 4-6 h post first colostral feeding. Control piglets of 1 litter (n=8) were inoculated with Shiga toxin-negative O157 strain 87-23 as controls. All piglets inoculated with 86-24 developed moderate to severe central nervous system signs (shivering and tremors, hind leg weakness and signs of splay leg, lateral or sternal recumbency, paddling, squealing with seizures and convulsions) within 24 h PI. Two piglets developed mild diarrhea within 36 hours. None of the control piglets developed any clinical symptoms. Piglets were euthanized and necropsied between 22 and 72 h PI. All piglets inoculated with 86-24, but none with 87-23, had similar lesions: moderate to severe subcutaneous edema, increased fluids in body cavities, colonic edema, and multifocal hemorrhages in the cerebellum. A few piglets had hemorrhages in the brain stem, medulla oblongata, and spinal cords. Histologically, angiopathy was seen in venules and arterioles in brain stem, medulla oblongata and cerebellum. Characteristic vascular lesions (endothelial swelling, severe plasma diapedesis, focal malacia, and multifocal necrosis in the granular layer of the cerebellum) were similar to lesions that occur in weaned pigs with edema disease, in piglets inoculated intravenously with E. coli Shiga toxin, and in children succumbing to EHEC disease. Stx2 toxin-induced disease in newborn suckling piglets is a potential model for studying EHEC pathogenicity.