Attaching and effacing lesions caused by Escherichia coli O157:H7 in experimentally inoculated neonatal lambs

• Published in: Journal of medical microbiology Vol. 50; no. 9; pp. 752 - 758
• Main Authors: WALES, ANDREW D, PEARSON, GEOFFREY R, SKUSE, ANDREW M, ROE, JOHN M, HAYES, CHRISTINE M, COOKSON, ADRIAN L, WOODWARD, MARTIN J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reading Soc General Microbiol 01.09.2001; Society for General Microbiology
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Bacterial Adhesion; Biological and medical sciences; Carrier State - pathology; Carrier State - veterinary; Cattle; Cecum - microbiology; Cecum - pathology; Cecum - ultrastructure; Colon - microbiology; Colon - pathology; Colony Count, Microbial - veterinary; Digestive System - microbiology; Digestive System - pathology; Digestive System - ultrastructure; Escherichia coli; Escherichia coli Infections - pathology; Escherichia coli Infections - veterinary; Escherichia coli O157 - isolation & purification; Escherichia coli O157 - physiology; Escherichia coli O157 - ultrastructure; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Immunohistochemistry - veterinary; Microbiology; Microscopy, Electron - veterinary; Rectum - microbiology; Rectum - pathology; Rectum - ultrastructure; Sheep; Sheep Diseases - pathology; Digestive system; Escherichia coli; Gut; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Rectum; Bacteria; Sheep; Enterocyte; Artiodactyla; Colon; Ungulata; Enterobacteriaceae
• ISSN: 0022-2615; 1473-5644
• DOI: 10.1099/0022-1317-50-9-752

Department of Pathology and Microbiology and *Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol Veterinary School, Langford, Bristol BS40 7DU and Department of Bacterial Diseases, Veterinary Laboratories Agency (Weybridge), Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB Corresponding author: Professor M.J. Woodward (e-mail: M.J.Woodward{at}vla.defra.gov.uk ). Received 13 Nov. 2000; revised version accepted 24 Feb. 2001. Abstract Four 6-day-old conventionally reared lambs were inoculated orally with a total of 10 9 cfu comprising equal numbers of four enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 strains. All animals remained clinically normal. Tissues were sampled under terminal anaesthesia at 12, 36, 60 and 84 h post inoculation (hpi). EHEC O157:H7 was cultured from most gastrointestinal tract sites. Small, sparse attaching and effacing (AE) lesions were found in the caecum at 12 and 36 hpi and in the terminal colon and rectum at 84 hpi. Organisms in the lesions were labelled specifically by an O157 antiserum. The results indicate that the well-characterised mechanisms for intimate attachment encoded by the locus for enterocyte effacement (LEE) of EHEC O157:H7 may contribute to the initial events, at least, of colonisation of sheep.