FREQUENCEY OF K99 ANTIGEN AND ANTI-BIORESISTANCE IN ESCHERICHIA-COLI FROM CALVES IN FRANCE

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  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 12  (3) , 253-257
Abstract
During the winter of 1979-1980, an epizootiological study of diarrheic calves revealed the presence of K99+ E. coli among 8.2% of clinically healthy calves and in 18.9% of diseased calves. Some calves which seemed healthy on the day of sampling, possibly became diarrheic on the following days. In diarrheic calves, K99+ E. coli were mainly found early in life, i.e. in 33.7% of the calves < 4 days old. These results were obtained with 147 healthy calves and 1053 diarrheic calves. They confirmed previous results obtained with more limited numbers of animals. K99+ E. coli were found in all breeding systems. Antibiotic resistance among the isolated E. coli was very high, especially in K99+ strains. E. coli K99 diagnosis of very young calves was discussed.