Role of Clostridium Perfringens and Escherichia Coli in the Occurrence of Diarrhea in newborn Rabbits

Abstract

This study aimed to identify some of the bacterial causes of enteritis and death following post weaning diarrhea in rabbits. A total of 230 samples from diarrheic rabbits, including 70 rectal swabs, 100 samples of livers and intestines (50 each) from freshly dead rabbits and 60 food and water samples (30 each) were taken from rabbits of various breeds from various farms and smallholders in El-Beheira governorate, Egypt. These samples were subjected to bacteriological examination. Molecular characterization was performed to confirm the C. perfringens and E. coli isolates and to detect some virulent genes associated with their pathogenicity. The results showed that the prevalence of C. perfringens in rectal swabs, liver and intestinal samples was 28.5, 44.0 and 84.0%; and the prevalence of E. coli was 74.2, 50.0 and 70.0%, respectively. In addition, examination of 30 water and 30 feeds samples from rabbits’ environment revealed that, the prevalence of C. perfringens was 2/30 and 5/30 while the prevalence of E. coli was 10/30 and 7/30, respectively. E. coli isolates were serogrouped into O153, O125, O27, O158 and O148 serogroup. All C. perfringens isolates were C. perfringens type A (had only alpha toxin), while beta and epsilon toxins were not detected. In E. coli, virulent genes (eaeA and tsh genes) were detected in 3 isolates, while the cnf1 gene was not detected in any isolate. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of most of the isolates indicated the presence of multidrug resistant strains.