ISRAEL JOURNAL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE IN VITRO AND IN VIVO PATHOGENICITY STUDIES OF ESCHERICHIA COLI ISOLATED FROM POULTRY IN NIGERIA. Vol. 58 (1) 2003 M.A. Raji1, J.O. Adekeye1, J.K.P. Kwaga2 and J.O.O. Bale3 1. Dept. of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, 2. Dept. of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine and 3. Dept. of Animal Reproduction, National Animal Production Research Institute Shika, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria-Nigeria. Abstract Diseases of poultry caused by Escherichia coli are of economic importance in the poultry industry in Nigeria. The organism is responsible for 30-40% mortality in broiler industry and the losses do not take into consideration weight loss and poor carcass quality when birds are infected with E. coli. The in-vitro pathogenicity was also conducted using Congo red, motility and hemolytic tests while the in vivo pathogenicity study was conducted using day-old-chicks. The results showed that 40% of the isolates from clinical cases were Congo red positive while 56% and 39% of the isolates from Simtu farm and NAPRI were Congo red positive respectively. The results of hemolysis indicated that none of the isolates from Simtu farm was hemolytic while only 2 (10%) out of 20 clinical colibacillosis isolates were hemolytic and 1 (2%) out of 50 isolates N.A.P.R.I showed a zone of hemolysis on 5% sheep blood agar. Most of the E. coli isolates were motile and all the clinical cases and NAPRI isolates. In vivo pathogenicity of all the serotyped isolates were compared using day-old-chicks inoculated with various isolates. Strain differences in the response of the birds were noted in the mortality. Clinical cases, 91-2000 (O9:K30), 98-2000 (O8:K50) and 92-2000 (O9:K30) produced clinical signs of severe lameness, depression, diarrhoea, and loss of weight and 100% mortality in in vivo pathogenicity studies in day-old chicks. This study highlights the serogroups of E. coli in this environment, and is also the first documentation of E. coli serotypes in Zaria-Northern Nigeria and successfully demonstrated the pathogenicity of these isolates for day old chicks. Introduction Escherichia coli is a major pathogen of worldwide importance in commercially raised poultry, contributing significantly to economic losses in both turkeys and chickens. E. coli has been associated with a variety of diseases in birds, including enteritis, arthritis, omphalitis, coligranuloma, septicemia, salpingitis, and complicated air sacculitis (1). Its role in chronic respiratory diseases in meat-type chickens is well documented (2), and its pathogenicity has been correlated with numerous extrinsic and intrinsic bird-related factors and conditions. The extrinsic factors include environment, exposure to other infectious agents, virulence and levels and duration of exposure. Intrinsic factors affecting susceptibility include age, route of exposure, active and passive immune status and breed and strain of chicken (3). Microbial characteristics associated with virulent avian E. coli include antibiotic resistance (4) production of colicins and siderophores (5), type 1 pili (6), plasmids (7), motility (8) hemolytic reaction (9) and embryo lethality (10). Resistance to the lytic action of host complement has also been implicated as a virulence-associated parameter in E. coli isolates from chickens and domestic animals with colisepticemia (10) Most of the serotypes isolated from poultry are pathogenic only for birds, but a few are also associated with disease conditions of other animals (11). The purpose of the present study was to examine the virulence of some serotypes of Escheichia coli isolated from poultry using day old chick lethality and to correlate it with other virulence factors associated with pathogenic avian E. coli. Materials and Methods A total of ninety-three E. coli isolates from clinical cases of colibacillosis and dead -in-shell embryos were subjected to Congo red, hemolysis and motility tests. Twenty of them were from clinical cases of colibacillosis and twenty-eight from Simtu farm and forty-five isolates from N .A P.R.I farm were from dead-inshell embryos. A) Serotyping Assay method Serotyping of the isolates was done by standard slide agglutination tests with antisera against somatic antigen groups at South Africa Laboratory by Dr. Maryke Henton, of Department of Bacteriology, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute according to standard methods described by Orskov et al. (12) and Glantz et al. (13). B) Virulence Assay a) Haemolysis assay E. coli isolates were propagated on blood agar base supplemented with 5% washed sheep erythrocytes. Blood agar plates then incubated at 37 OC for 24 hrs and colonies producing clear zones of haemolysis were then recorded as hemolysin positive (14). b) Motility (using SIM Agar) test. The medium was prepared and inoculated with each isolate of E. coli and incubated at 37 OC for 24hrs after which motile bacterial was seen to spread from point of inoculation into the agar as a paint brush (8, 14). c) Fermentation of carbohydrates. E. coli isolates were characterized by their ability to utilize maltose, lactose, sucrose, dulcitol, adonitol, salicin, raffinose, dextrins, xylose, rhamnose and mannitol. Bromothymol blue broth base was prepared and used as colour indicator. Each isolate of E. coli was inoculated into prepared sugar and incubated at 37OC for 24hrs. The positive test turned from blue to yellow, while the negative reaction remained blue (7, 15). d) Congo red Binding Assay. The medium used for determination of Congo red binding of the isolates was prepared according to the formula of Berkholl and Vinal (15). Trypticase Soy Agar was supplemented with 0.003% Congo red dye (Sigma) and 0.15% bile salts (Coast Louis Missouri). Each isolate was cultured on a separate plate and incubated at 37 OC for 24hrs. After 24hrs incubation, the cultures were left at room temperature for 48hrs to facilitate annotation of results (15). Invasive E. coli were identified by their ability to take up Congo red dye. The positive isolates produced red colonies. The negative isolates appeared as colourless. e) In Vivo Virulence Test using Day Old chicks Twenty-four isolates of E. coli serotyped from clinical cases and dead —inshell embryos were used. One hundred and twenty day- old cockerels were obtained from NAPRI hatchery. The birds were fed with chick mash (Feed MastersR) and water provided ad libitium. All the tested strains were grown and prepared according to the method of Chulasiri and Suthienkul (4). The McFarland standard turbidity of 3X108 was diluted in Brain Heart infusion broth in one to tenfold dilution factor and last tube of 107 was plated on MacConkey agar and incubated at 37OC for 24hours. The colony forming units (CFU/ml) was determined by standard plate count method (17). The birds were assigned into experimental groups of five. Birds were injected subcutaneously with 0.2ml of brain heart infusion broth containing 106or 107 CFU per isolate. The actual dose was determined by viable cell counts of the inocula. Birds were maintained for seven days post inoculation and monitored daily for mortality. Birds that died before day 7 and those that survived till end of the experiment were necropsied to determine the gross pathological lesions on their organs and cultural examination was also done on liver and pericardium. Results The result of haemolysis indicated that none of the isolate from Simtu farm was haemolytic, while only 2(10%) 20 of clinical colibacillosis isolates were haemolytic and 1(2%) 50 isolates N.A.P.R.I showed zone of haemolysis on 5% sheep blood agar. Most of the E. coli isolatesd from clinical cases and dead-inshell embryos were not haemolytic. The result of Congo red assay showed that 55% of clinical cases of colibacillosis were Congo red positive, while 50% and 42.2% of E. coli isolates from Simtu farm and N.A.P.R.I farms respectively were positive for Congo red (Table 1). Congo red uptake was demonstrated in 3(12 of out pathogenic isolates) while the remaining pathogenic isolates were Congo red negative. There was no correlation with Congo red dye from this finding. The commonest serogroups in the clinical cases were O8:K50 (2) and O8:K30 (2) followed by O86:K62 (1) while the remaining fifteen of the isolates belong to rough strains. The serotypes from dead-in-shell embryos from Simtu farm were O8:K50 (2), O4:K3 (1), O13:K11 (1) and O78:K80 and O8:K41 were recovered from a single isolate, S195. The rough isolates were demonstrated in twenty of the isolates while two isolates were not included in the group sent to South Africa for serotyping and one of the isolate got broken in transit. The results of serotypes from National Animal Production Research Institute were as follow. The serogroups O9:K34 (3) O9:K9 (2), while the remaining serotypes O8:K50, O26:K60, O8: K-, O99: K, O137:K79, O9:K28, O112:K68 occurred singly (Table 2). The result of the pathogenicity in day-old chicks indicated that 100% mortality was recorded in the clinical cases of colibacillosis 91-2000(O9:K30), 92-2000(O9:K30) and 98-2001(O8:K50), while 20% mortality were produced by 38-2001(O8:K50) and 40-2001(Rough strain) isolates. The isolate 30-2001 (O86:K62) was not pathogenic for day-old chicks. The results of the Simtu farm isolate showed that only isolate S68 (Rough) produced 100% mortality in dayold chicks and only one isolate S195 (O78:K80 and O8:K41) produced 80% mortality in day-old chicks and two isolates belonging to number S26 (O4:K3) and S420 (O13:K11) produced 40% mortality in day-old chicks. The results of pathogenicity studied from NAPRI farm isolates showed that 100% mortality was produced with the isolate number N16 (O8: K?) and N25 (O99: K). While 80% mortality was produced with only one isolate N6 (O9: K). Four of the isolates produced moderate mortality (60% mortality) in day—old chicks belonged to number N23 (O9:K34), N14 (O9:K28) N58 (O9:K34) and N28 (O8:K50). One of the isolate produced 40% mortality in day-old chicks belonged to N53 (O112:K68). Two of the isolates produced 20% mortality were N19 (O9:K9) and N60 (O26:K60), while isolates number N36 (O9:K34) and N36 (O137:K79) were not pathogenic for day old chicks. The inoculum size used in the experiment varies from 106 - 107 as previously described by Cloud et al. (7). The clinical signs presented from sick birds before they died were vents pasted with faeces, depression, lameness, anorexia, and loss of weight, ruffled feathers and weakness. The post-mortem findings indicated congested and enlarged liver, heart, and spleen. The gall bladder was also distended with bile. The lungs were also congested. The cultures from liver and pericardium also were positive both for dead birds and sick birds that survived till the end of the experiment. Pathogenicity was classified as highly virulent if the mortality was from 60100% and twelve of the isolate actually belonged to this group. The moderate group was those with mortality from 20-40% and three of the isolates were in this group. The non-pathogenic group was those with mortality of 20% and less nine isolates belonged to this group (Table 3). A large percentage of all isolates showed enhanced activity in the fermentation of rhamnose (100%) and lactose (100%). While fermentation of ducitol, mannitol, xylose showed (99%) each for both pathogenic and nonpathogenic isolates. Comparatively, the fermentation of adonitol by the large number of non-pathogenic serotypes especially six of the low virulence serotypes. Metabolic activity was similar among the different isolates and for most substrates and could not be associated with pathogenicity (Table 4). An exception was bile esculin where 100% of the non-pathogenic isolates hydrolyzed this salt. The most pathogenic serotypes in this study were O9:K30, O8: K, O99: K, and rough strains showed 100% mortality in day-old chicks. Dose response (Table 4) shows the dose related response of day-old cockerel chickens to the E. coli isolates did not vary considerably even when a lower dose (106) of pathogenic strains were inoculated. Lesions and mortality were produced in the day-old chicks. At least 107 CFU/ ml of highly pathogenic E. coli was required to consistently produce lesions and /or mortality in more than 50% of the inoculates. The weak pathogens failed to kill the birds regardless of dose. Discussion Two isolates from clinical cases 10%(2/20) and one from the National Animal Production Research Institute (N.A.P.R.I) 2.25%(1/45) were hemolytic E. coli. Hemolytic strains are frequently isolated in pure culture from the intestine and mesenteric lymph node of pigs dying from oedema disease (36) and a frequent association of hemolytic strain of Escherichia coli with gastro-enteritis and septicemia in calves and humans hase also been documented (27). The nonhemolytic strains of were responsible for colibacillosis and dead-in-shell embryos (7, 19). This study also agrees with previous workers that nonhemolytic E. coli were associated with colibacillosis and dead-in-shell embryos in Nigeria. The results of the Congo red binding assay indicates that 55% of cases of colibacillosis produced Congo red positive while 50% and 42.2% from Simtu and NAPRI farms were Congo red positive, respectively. The pathogenicity of the Congo red positive isolates was not correlated with Congo red uptake. A number of workers have also reported that Congo red binding did not correlate well with pathogenicity (20). Previous study also indicated that isolates of virulent avian E. coli can be identified by their ability to bind Congo red (CR). The characteristic of CR binding constitutes a moderately stable, reproducible, and easily distinguishable phenotypic marker. The stability of the CR phenotype is greater in some isolates than in others. The loss of CR binding parallels the loss of virulence for chickens and mice (15). Berhkof and Vinal (15) reported that generally, most CR-positive E. coli isolates will lose the ability to bind CR if sub-cultured on complex media (such as blood agar). No consistent correlation between sugar fermentation, Congo red, bile esculin, motility, serotypes and in vivo pathogenicity for day-old chicks was found in this study. It was also observed in a study (7), that E. coli isolates from colisepticemia produced inconsistent results on correlation with sugar fermentation test, motility and in vivo pathogenicity test for day-old chicks. In this present study all the pathogenic and non-pathogenic isolates for dayold chicks actually fermented ducitol which disagreed with the finding of Baeul (16), who reported that higher percentage of pathogenic than apathogenic E. coli strains were ducitol positive and salicin negative in their studied. Some researchers have also noted that these serogroups share similar biochemical patterns, such as the fermentation of certain sugars or enzymatic reactions. It has been proposed that high metabolic activity might be characteristic of highly virulent strains or specific serogroups associated with colibacillosis (7,14) and dead-in-shell embryos. (17). In vitro pathogenicity test using Congo red could not be clearly correlated with pathogenicity. The majority of Congo red negative E. coli were pathogenic for day-old chicks, while only very few Congo red positives were pathogenic for day-old chicks. This finding disagreed with the earlier studies by Berkhoff and Vinal (15). This may be due to the fact that most of the isolates studied were of serogroups O1, O2, and O78. The possible explanation was given by Spears et al. (21) that a large plasmid in Shigella flexneri encoded virulence and Congo red binding were at closely associated, but separate, loci. They concluded that the loci were separate and that other nonvirulence-related loci such as those encoding cell wall and other outer-membrane synthesis could affect Congo red binding phenotype with virulence was not absolute. The low positive correlation between the Congo red tests and other tests reflects the low degree of direct relationship between the diagnostic tests (Congo red uptake and embryo lethality). This is the first report of E. coli serotyping from Northern Nigeria. Of a total of eighty-six isolates from colibacillosis and dead-in-shell embryos serotyped, 5 isolates belonged to O8:K50. This was followed by serotypes O9:K34 (3 isolates) while 2 isolates each belonged to serotypes O9:K30 and O9:K9. The remaining serotypes occurred singly O8: K, O78:K80, O8:K41, O13:K11, O137:K79, O112:K68, O26:K60, O4:K3, and O9: K28. The findings in this study disagree with the reports of (7,19), where high incidences of serotypes O1, O2 and O78 were reported in cases of colibacillosis and dead- in-shell embryos. In this study, serotypes O8, then O9 and O78 in that order were most frequently encountered in this work. Hinton and Linton (22) had reported the association of colibacillosis with O8 and O9 in South Africa. The very low frequency of isolation of some serotypes known world wide as pathogenic for avian in this environment needs to be investigated further, by studying a higher number of isolates to be able to make any definitive conclusions or converting the rough into smooth isolates for easy serotyping. This study has however given additional evidence of the presence of some E. coli serotypes in this environment and further confirmed that strains of similar serotypes can be isolated from different countries. Ninety-five isolates in this investigation typically represented the species. Eighty-five of these strains were serologically typed in detail in South Africa. Strains belonging to serogroups O8 were isolated most frequently from poultry infections followed by O9, and O78. In this investigation, it is significant to note that both O8 and O9 have been isolated by the Nigerian workers (17, 24). Tekdek, (23) in Zaria reported that the commonest serogroups identified in calves were O8, O26, O15, O75 and O6. Of all the E. coli serotyped only one was a pathogenic strain O78:K80 that by experimental infections caused enteric colibacillosis in lambs. In his report, the commonest ‘O’ serogroup observed was O8. This serogroup also occurred most frequently in poultry in this study in the same environment and there is likelihood that there could be cross-infection from lambs to poultry. Falade (24), in Oyo State-Nigeria isolated O141 and O139 serogroups, which are not among the serogroups normally associated with pathogenic lesions in poultry. O8 serogroup isolated in this study have been associated with hatchery losses and early chick mortality in India (25). This appears to be first documentation of several serogroups of E. coli associated with dead-in-shell embryos and clinical cases of colibacillosis in Zaria and environs. There were no untypable strains in the present study. Orajaka and Mohan (17) found only 26% untypable strains from dead-in-shell embryos. Very little information is available on the association of untypable E. coli strains with embryonic mortality. However, Rosenberger et al. (31) noted that O2 serotypes and untypable avian E. coli are among the virulent avian E. coli. This observation was not confirmed in this study. Pathogenicity of E. coli isolates from clinical cases of colibacillosis from Avian Unit of Veterinary Teaching Hospital, A.B.U-Zaria, and dead-in-shell embryos from NAPRI was done by inoculating a standardized amount of E. coli subcutaneously into of susceptible day-old cockerel chicks from Simtu Farms. Based on mortality and lesions that occurred during a 7-day post-inoculation period, isolates were characterized as being high, intermediate, and a virulent in pathogenicity. Birds were susceptible to subcutaneous E. coli administration; and confirms report by other researchers (11,35,30). In a study by Sojka and Carnagham (11), mortality was consistently reproduced in birds following subcutaneous injection with E. coli serotypes especially with O1, O2, O78, O73 and O08. In studies by Sojka and Carnagham, (11) and by Kabilika and Sharma (32), both failed to produce mortality in day-old chicks with the following serotypes O9:K28, O141: K85 and O8:K?. In the present study, however, the serotypes 09:K30 (two isolate), 08:K (one isolate) 099:K (one isolates) 08:K50 (one isolate) and one rough produced 100% mortality in day-old chicks, and serotypes O8:K50 (one isolate), O86:K62 (one), O9:K34 (one) O137:K79 (one) were not pathogenic for day-old chicks. There was variation in the response of the birds to inoculation of the serotyps. The mortality and lesions produced from inoculation of day-old chicks were almost the same in all pathogenic E. coli. The typical clinical signs of colibacillosis were noticed in the experimentally inoculated birds. These were vents pasted with feces, lameness, roughed feathers, and loss of weight, anorexia, and weakness. The postmortem findings were enlarged and congested liver, lungs, and heart. The gall bladder was distended with bile and the intestine was filled with watery feces. The spleen was also enlarged and congested. This agreed with the finding of Grosheva and Rackhmaniana, (33). The amount of inoculum given to each bird varied from106 to 107. The pathology and mortality with these inoculum sizes were unrelated to pathogenicity while lower numbers of some of the strains also produced the same mortality and lesions. Serogroups O9:K30 and O8: K were most frequently isolated and were quite pathogenic suggesting these are emerging pathogens of some significance in NAPRI-produced chickens. Serogroup O78:K80 was isolated only once and appeared to be important as indicated by other researchers (3,11). The rough strains from clinical cases and Simtu dead-in- shell embryos strains were also assessed. The rough strains from clinical cases showed 100% mortality for dayold chick whereas the rough strain from Simtu produced 20% mortality. There is need to assess the remaining rough strains of all E. coli isolates before a conclusive statement could be made. Notably Ciosk reported that transformation of smooth (S) to rough (R) forms was accompanied by a decrease in virulence in all his experiments (34). LINKS TO OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE References 1. Cheville, N.F, and Arp, L. H. Comparative pathologic findings of Escherichia coli infection in birds. Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association. 137: 2731.1978 2. McClenaghan, M, Brabdury, J.M, and Howse, J.N. Embryos mortality associated with avian Mycoplasma serotype. I. Veterinary Record.108: 459-460.1981 3. Gross, W.B, Factors affecting the development of respiratory disease complex in chickens. Avian Diseases.34: 607 -610. 1990 4. Chulasiri, M, and O Suthienkul. Antimicrobial resistance of Escherichia coli isolated from chickens. Veterinary Microbiology. 21: 189-1941. 1989. 5. Dho, M, and Lafont J.P. Adhesive properties and iron uptake ability in Escherichia coli lethal and non-lethal for chicks. Avian Diseases. 26: 787-797. 1984 6. 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Spears, K.R, Richard, E, Brown, W. J and Nolan, L. K. Failure of the Congo red dye uptake test to discriminate between virulent and avirulent avian E. coli. Avian Diseases. 36: 1012-1014. 1992 19. Gross W.B. Diseases due to Escherichia coli in poultry. In C.L Gyles (ed) Escherichia coli in domestic animals and humans. CAB International Library Wallingford United Kingdom. 237-260. 1994 20. Yoder, Jr, H.W. Congo red binding by Escherichia coli isolates from chickens. Avian Diseases. 33:502-505. 1989 21. Panigraph, B, and Yushen, L. Differentiation of pathogenic and nonpathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from poultry. Avian Diseases. 34:941-943. 1990 22. Hinton, M.V.A, and Linton, A.H, The biotyping of Escherichia coli isolated from healthy farm animals. Journal of Hygiene Cambridge. 88:543-555.1982 23. Tekdek, L.B. Epidemiologic and Bacteriologic studies of calves’ colibacillosis in herds of cattle in Zaria. Ph. D Thesis. Ahmadu Bello UniversityZaria. 1994 24. Falade .S. E.coli Serotypes isolated from yolk sac of dead chicken embryos. Veterinary Record. 100: 31. 1977. 25. Burkhanova, K.H.K, Properties of E. coli strains isolated from diseased fowl. Veterinary Moscow.10: 66-68. 1980 26. Cravioto, A, Gross, R.J, Scotland, S.M, Rowe, B. Escherichia coli belonging to traditional infantile enteropathogenic serotypes. Current Microbiology. 3:95-96.1979 27. Venugopalan, A.T, Palaniswamy, S.K, Padmanban and Balaparaksam, R. A (1974). Occurrence of E.coli “O” groups from chickens and dead-in-shell embryos. Tamil Nadu Journal of Veterinary Science Animal Husbandry. 3:17-20. 28. Arunachalan, T.N, Jayaraman, M.S, Balaprakasam, R.A. Serological typing, colicinogenicity and colicine sensitivity of Escherichia coli strains associated with colisepticemia and enteritis in poultry. Indian Veterinary Journal.3: 203209.1974 29. Gyles, C.L and Thoren, C.L Pathogenesis of bacterial infections in animals. 1st edition. Edited by Gyles C.L Escherichia coli. Iowa State University Press, Ames. Pp114-131.1986 30. Sarma, D.K, Sambyal, D.S, Dhingra, P.N. Studies on the pathogenicity of Escherichia coli of poultry origin. Poultry Adviser Bangalore Indian.14: 53-56. 1981 31. Rosenberger, J.K, Fries, P.A, Cloud, S.S and Wilson, R.A. In vitro and vivo studies of Escherichia coli II. Factors associated with pathogenicity. Avian Diseases. 29:1094-1107. 1985 32. Kabilika, H.S, and Sharma, R.N. Escherichia coli from Dead in shell embryos from hatcheries in Zambia. Bulletin of Animal Health Production in Africa. 45:199-204. 1997 33. Grosheva, G.A, and Rakhmaniana, I.A. Control of colibacillosis of fowls on large premises of the production type. Trudy Vsesoyuznogo Instituta Eksperimental noi Veterinarii.63: 110-115. 1985 34. Ciosk, D. Pathogenicity of S and R forms of Escherichia coli serotypes 02:K1 and 078:K80. Bulletin of the Veterinary Institute in Pulawy. 3:71-75.1973 35. Dozois, C.M, Fair brother, J.M, Harel, J, and Bosse M, .Pap and pil related DNA sequences and other virulence determinants associated with E. coli isolated from septicemic chickens and turkeys. Infection and Immunity. 60:2648-2656. 1992 36. Timoney, J.F (1957). Oedema disease of swine. Veterinary Record.69: 1160-1171. 1. TABLES Table 1: In vitro pathogenicity studies on E. coli isolates from dead-in-shell embryos and clinical cases of colibacillosis. Pathogenicity Test Clinical cases of Colibacillosis Dead-in-shell Embryos-Simtu Farm 0/28(0 %) Dead-in- shell Embryos-NAPRI Farm 1/ 45(2.22%) Haemolysis 2/20(10%) Congo Red 11/20(55%) 14/28(50%) 19/45(42.2%) 20/20(100%) 27/28(99.8%) 45/45(100%) dye Motility Table 2: E. coli Serotypes isolated from dead-in-shell embryos and clinical cases of colibacillosis Serotype Clinical cases of Colibacillosis Dead-in-shell EmbryosSimtu Farm Dead-in- shell EmbryosNAPRI Farm Total 08:K50 2 2 1 5 09:K30 2 - - 2 086:K62 1 - - 1 09:K9 - - 2 2 09:K28 - - 1 1 09:K34 - - 3 3 099:K? - - 1 1 08:K? - - 1 1 04:K3 - 1 - 1 026:K60 - - 1 1 0112:K68 - - 1 1 0137:K79 - - 1 1 013:K11 - 1 - 1 078:K80 - 1 - 1 Rough 14 20 32 66 Not typed 1 3 1 5 Total 20 28 45 93 08:K41 Table 3: In vivo pathogenicity studies in day-old chicks. S/no Laboratory CFU Mortality 1 N38 3.52X107 0/5 2 N36 7.70 X107 3 S109 4 % Mortality Serotype Virulence No of birds with lesions No of birds without lesions - O137:K79 None - 5 0/5 - O9:K34 None - 5 7.25 X107 0/5 - O8:K50 None - 5 N60 4.56 X107 1/5 20 O26:K60 None 3 2 5 S420 3.90X107 2/5 40 O13:K11 Moderate 3 2 6 38-2001 5.52X107 1/5 20 O8:K50 None 2 3 7 98-2001 9.84X107 5/5 100 O8:K50 High 5 - 8 N58 7.04X107 3/5 60 O9:K34 High 4 1 9 N16 3.97X107 5/5 100 O8: K- High 5 - 10 N53 5.86X107 2/5 40 O112:K68 Moderate 3 2 11 N25 6.53X107 5/5 100 O99: K- High 5 - 12 S26 9.82X107 2/5 40 O4:K3 Moderate 3 2 13 91-2000 7.2X106 5/5 100 O9:K30 High 5 - 14 S195 5.0X106 4/5 80 O78:K80 High 4 1 O8:K41 15 92-2000 6.3X106 5/5 100 O9:K30 High 5 - 16 S68 1.38X107 5/5 100 Rough High 5 - 17 40-2001 2.08X107 1/5 20 Rough None 2 3 18 N23 1.44X107 3/5 60 O9:K34 High 4 1 19 N6 4.90X107 4/5 80 O9:K9 High 4 1 20 N14 2.50X107 3/5 60 O9:K28 High 3 2 21 N19 1.62X107 1/5 20 O9:K9 None 2 3 22 N28 1.92X107 3/5 60 O8:K50 High 3 2 23 S69 3.06X107 1/5 20 O8:K50 None 2 3 24 30-2001 7.36 X107 0/5 - O86:K62 None - 5 Pathogenicity classification Highly virulent=50-100% (N=12) Moderate or intermediate=20-40% (N=3) Avirulent =20% or less (N=9) Table 4: Correlation between sugar fermentation, bile esculin hydrolysis, Congo red assay, hemolysis, motility, serotype, and in vivo pathogenicity in day-old chicks. Serotype O137:K79 + + - + - + + + + + - + - O9:K34 + + - + - + + + - - + + - O8:K50 + + + + + + + + + + + + + O26:K60 + + + + - + + + + - + + - O13:K11 + + + - - + + - + - + + - O8:K50 + + + - - + + + + + + - - O8:K50 + + + - - + + - + - + - - O9:K34 + + + + - + + + + + + + - O8:K? + + + + - + + - + + + + - O112:K68 + + + + - + + + + + + + + O9:K? + + + + - + + + + + + + + O4:K3 + + + + - + + + + + + - - O9:K30 + + + + - + + + + + + + - O78:K80 + + + + + + + + + - + + + O9:K30 + + + + - + + + + + + - + Rough + + + + - + + + + - + + - Rough + + + + + + + + + + + + - O9:K34 + + + + + + + + + - + + - O99:K9 + + - + + + + - - + + + + O9:K28 + + - + + + + - + + + + - O9:K9 + + + + - + + + + - + + - O8:K50 + + - + - + + + - + + + - O8:K41 O8:K50 + + + + + + + + + - + - - O86:K62 + + + + - + + - + + + + -