Salmonellosis in chickens in Upper Egypt

Bacteriological examination of 1250 chickens showed that Salmonella could be isolated from 106 [8.48%]. The most frequent isolations were from the gall bladder followed by liver and intestinal contents. Twelve different serotypes could be identified. Salmonella pullorum-gallinarum was the predominant [50.00%] followed by S. typhimurium [16.98%]. S. enteritidis [10.37%] and S. derby [8.49%], were moderately recovered. S. newport, S. saint-paul [8.49% each], S. manhattan, S. London and S. muenster [1.88% each], were less prevalent, while S. east bourne, S. reading and S. infantis were sporadically isolated. Isolation of Salmonella muenster, S. reading and S. infantis is believed to be first record from chickens in Egypt

use of micro-technique in serogrouping of E coli strains

A micromethod for serogrouping Escherichia coli strains, using microtitre set is described. The optimum agglutination reaction was detected and found to be with the test volume 0.05 ml of each of antigen and antiserum [diluted 1:80] combination. Because of the small amount of antiserum used in this method, it is practical to screen unknown strains directly with individual antisera. The method was found simple, accurate and economic in terms of time, antisera and reagents utilized in the test

Colisepticaemia in chickens in Upper Egypt

Coliforms were isolated in a pure culture from 138 heart blood samples of 1450 dead chickens investigated, with a recovery rate of 9.52%. All isolates were classified as E.coli by their biochemical reactions and sugar fermentation. Using 55 O and OK sera, 131 strains [94.9%] could be serogrouped into 24 different O groups. 67 strains [48.6%] belong to the following O groups: 086, 02, 0128, 078 and 03 and were the most predominant groups. Strains belonged to O groups 055, 01, 026, 0126, 0114, 0127, 0119 and 0157 were detected in a moderate incidence of 31.2% [43 strains]. Out of the 131 serogrouped strains, 124 [94.7%] were capsulated. The capsular antigens: K1 [L], K71 [B16], K62 [L], K76 [B20] and K80 [B] were the most frequent types and constituted 58.9% of identified capsular antigens. Only 7 strains [5.3%] were bearing no capsular antigen [K-]

Transferable antibiotic resistance [R-factors] in escherichia coli strains isolated from calves with enteritis

The resistant patterns of 98 tetracycline resistant trains of E. coli previously isolated from buffalo-calves with enteritis, were studied. These strains were mated with an Escherichia coli and salmonella typhimurium recipient strains. Fifty nine per cent of them could transfer their tetracycline resistance to the recipient coli strain, while 66% could transfer it to the salmonella recipient strain. The relatively high incidence of transferable tetracycline resistance may be a result of the common practice of its use in controlling and preventing respiratory and diarrhoeal diseases in calves in Egypt. The practical measure to control the spread of this resistance factore is to minimize the use of this drug in veterinary medicine