Characterization and antibiogram of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic dogs in South Bengal

Diarrhoea in canines is mainly caused byEscherichia coli which can be fatal also. To understand the depth of this infection, a study was undertaken to detect E. coli isolates from diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic dogs in Southern part of West Bengal. A total of 112 canine samples were tested during May to September 2012 revealing approx 63.4% (71) samples positive for Escherichia coli. The most common serotypes were O8 (23.9%) followed by O157 (19.7%), O101 (16.9%), O26 (15.5%), O153 (12.7%) and O6 (11.3%). Among these O6, O8, O26 and O157 were highly pathogenic to mice causing almost 100% mortality within 24hrs of inoculation and were also detected to be haemolytic on sheep blood agar plates except serotype O8. These isolates were mostly sensitive to nalidixic acid (80.29%), cotrimoxazole (78.88%), ciprofloxacin (74.65%), colistin and ceftriaxone (both 71.83%) but were resistant to amikacin (97.18%), kanamycin (95.78%), cephalexin (92.96%) and enrofloxacin (84.51%).