246 Pathogenic Escherichia Coli Populations within the gut Microbiota of Commercial Swine Herds in the U.S

Abstract

Abstract Enteropathogenic E. coli (ETEC) is a common infection in neonatal and nursery pigs resulting in significant economic losses from morbidity, mortality, and production inefficiencies. Due to the plasticity of its genome, E. coli can be particularly challenging to manage in swine production systems. Populations of E. coli are continuously changing their genome content via multiple methods of genomic modification to better adapt and compete within ecological niches in the intestinal tract. This ability to acquire genetic information allows individuals within E. coli populations to exchange virulence and antibiotic resistance genes, developing into disease-causing ETEC strains that are difficult to manage with therapeutic antibiotics and other antimicrobial methods. Virulence genes associated with ETEC are harbored within healthy swine populations and usually result in disease when individual strains acquire four or more genes associated with virulence. Monitoring and enumerating the virulence gene pool of E. coli populations within U.S. commercial swine herds indicates that incorporating methods to manage the potentially pathogenic E. coli population in its entirety may be a more effective strategy than focusing on disease mitigation.