Identification, characterization and molecular epidemiology of Escherichia coli isolated from lamb and goat kids with diarrhoea

Neonatal diarrhoea is a serious health problem on commercial farms. EnterovirulentEscherichia coliis a significant aetiological agent of neonatal diarrhoea. In this work, identification and classification ofE. coliisolates obtained from lambs and goat kids with diarrhoea were studied along with antibiotic resistance and clonal relationships of enterovirulent strains. A total of 107E. colistrains isolated from animals on 43 farms were investigated. Specific virulence genes were determined by multiplex and uniplex polymerase chain reaction. Testing of antibiotic susceptibility was carried out by the Vitek II compact system. The relationship ofE. coliisolates was determined by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction. A total of 39 (36.4%) enterovirulentE. colistrains were identified and of this 19 (48.7%) were shiga toxigenic, 12 (30.8%) enterotoxigenic and 8 (20.5%) enteropathogenic. Three isolates (7.7%) were found to be positive for extended spectrum beta lactamase; 10 (25.6%) isolates showed multi-drug resistance to antimicrobials. A total of 28 types were detected by enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus polymerase chain reaction. Twenty strains had distinct types while 5 types were common for 2 strains and 3 types were common for 3 strains. This is the first current determination of types, clonality and antibiotic resistance of enterovirulentE. coliisolated from small ruminants with diarrhoea. The results of this study showed that the rates of shiga toxigenic, enterotoxigenic and enteropathogenic isolates ofE. coliare high in the western part of Turkey. Although these isolates were not clonal, presence of multidrug resistant isolates may cause public health problems.