Colibacillosis occurs as an acute fatal septicemia or subacute pericarditis and airsacculitis. It is a common systemic disease of economic importance in poultry and is seen worldwide.

Etiology and Pathogenesis

Escherichia coli is a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium normally found in the intestines of poultry and most other animals; although most serotypes are nonpathogenic, a limited number produce extraintestinal infections. Pathogenic strains are commonly of the O1, O2, and O78 serotypes, but serotypes O11, O15, O18, O51, O115, and O132 have also been reported for E coli isolates associated with cellulitis and colibacillosis. There is considerable diversity of serogroups among clinical isolates, and only a small percentage of these isolates belong to serotypes O1, O2, or O78. In fact, 18–29% of avian E coli isolates cannot be typed. Therefore, no single E coli serotype used as a bacterin can provide full protection against all of the serotypes that cause infections. Virulence factors include the ability to resist phagocytosis, utilization of highly efficient iron acquisition systems, resistance to killing by serum, production of colicins, and adherence to respiratory epithelium. Virulent E coli are generally nontoxigenic, poorly invasive, and do not possess common adhesins.

Large numbers of E coli are maintained in the poultry house environment through fecal contamination. Initial exposure to pathogenic E coli may occur in the hatchery from infected or contaminated eggs, but systemic infection usually requires predisposing environmental factors or infectious causes. Mycoplasmosis, infectious bronchitis, Newcastle disease, hemorrhagic enteritis, and turkey bordetellosis precede colibacillosis. Poor air quality and other environmental stresses may also predispose to E coli infections.

Systemic infection occurs when large numbers of pathogenic E coli gain access to the bloodstream from the respiratory tract or intestine. Bacteremia progresses to septicemia and death, or the infection extends to serosal surfaces, pericardium, joints, and other organs.

Clinical Findings and Lesions

Signs are nonspecific and vary with age, organs involved, and concurrent disease. Young birds dying of acute septicemia have few lesions except for an enlarged, hyperemic liver and spleen with increased fluid in body cavities. Birds that survive septicemia develop subacute fibrinopurulent airsacculitis, pericarditis, perihepatitis, and lymphocytic depletion of the bursa and thymus. (Unusually pathogenic salmonellae produce similar lesions in chicks.) Although airsacculitis is a classic lesion of colibacillosis, it is unclear whether it results from primary respiratory exposure or from extension of serositis. Sporadic lesions include pneumonia, arthritis, osteomyelitis, peritonitis, and salpingitis.

Diagnosis

Unlike pathogenic E coli associated with illnesses in other animal species, avian isolates are generally nonhemolytic on sheep (5%) blood agar. Isolation of a pure culture of E coli from heart blood, liver, or typical visceral lesions in a fresh carcass indicates primary or secondary colibacillosis. Consideration should be given to predisposing infections and environmental factors. Pathogenicity of isolates is established when parenteral inoculation of young chicks or poults results in fatal septicemia or typical lesions within 3 days. Pathogenicity can also be detected by inoculation of the allantoic sac of 12-day-old chicken embryos. Resulting gross lesions include cranial and skin hemorrhages in addition to encephalomalacia in embryos inoculated with virulent isolates.

Treatment and Control

Treatment strategies include attempts to control predisposing infections or environmental factors and early use of antibacterials indicated by susceptibility tests. Most isolates are resistant to tetracyclines, streptomycin, and sulfa drugs, although therapeutic success can sometimes be achieved with tetracycline. In fact, 90% of clinical isolates are resistant to tetracycline, with 60% of isolates resistant to 5 or more antibiotics. Fluoroquinolone use is now banned in many countries including the USA. Commercial bacterins, administered to breeder hens or chicks, have provided some protection against homologous E coli serotypes.

Last full review/revision March 2012 by Margie D. Lee, DVM, PhD