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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Animal Disease Center » Food Safety and Enteric Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #79676
Title: O157:H7 ESCHERICHIA COLI ARE PATHOGENIC IN NEONATAL CALVES

Author
item Nystrom, Evelyn
item Bosworth, Brad
item MOON, H - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item CRAY JR, WILLIAM - 3625-30-15

Submitted to: International Virtual Conference on Infectious Diseases of Animals
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/2/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Cattle are an important reservoir of Shiga-like toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 that cause hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome in humans. Naturally- or experimentally-infected cattle can shed low levels of E. coli O157:H7 for a long period, but little is known about the pathogenesis of E. coli O157:H7 infection in cattle. E. coli O157:H7 induced characteristic attaching and effacing (AE) mucosal lesions in ceca and colons of 1-day-old gnotobiotic piglets. AE lesions have not been detected in adult cattle or 3- to 14-week-old calves infected with E. coli O157:H7. The objective was to determine if E. coli O157:H7 induce AE lesions in neonatal calves. Colostrum-deprived calves (<12-h-old) were bottle-fed with antibiotic-free milk replacer containing either 10**10 CFU of O157:H7 (SLT-I**+, SLT-II**+) or non-pathogenic E. coli, necropsied 18 h or 3 d postinoculation and examined histologically. Calves inoculated with hE. coli O157:H7 had diarrhea, colonic edema and A/E lesions in both the large and small intestines 18 h and 3 d postinoculation. No diarrhea, edema or A/E lesions were observed in calves inoculated with non-pathogenic E. coli. Colostrum-fed calves (30- to 36-h-old) also had diarrhea, edema, and A/E lesions after inoculation with E. coli O157:H7. Neonatal calves are susceptible to AE lesions induced by E. coli O157:H7 and provide a model for studying the pathogenesis of E. coli O157:H7 infections in cattle.