Abstract Introduction Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is one of the main pathotypes causing gastroenteritis, particularly in young immunocompromised hosts. The study reports the prevalence, characterisation, and molecular epidemiology of EPEC from piglets in northeastern India. Material and Methods A total of 457 faecal samples were collected, from which 1,286 E. coli strains were isolated and screened by PCR. The resultant EPEC strains were serotyped and phenotypically characterised for resistance against 15 antimicrobials. Also, the phylogenetic sequence was analysed for 11 selected strains. Results A total of 42 strains (3.26%) belonged to atypical EPEC, of which, 15 (35.71%, and 2.29% of the 654 strains from this farm type) were isolated from organised and 27 (64.29%, and 4.27% of the 632 strains from this farm type) from unorganised farms; further, 5 (11.90% of the EPEC strains and 1.51% of the 330 strains from this breed) were isolated from the indigenous breeds and 37 (88.10%, and 3.87% of the 956 strains from this breed) from crossbred piglets. Serogroups O111 (11.9%) and O118 (7.14%) were the most prevalent of the 10 present. Sequence analysis of a length of the eaeA gene of 11 isolates of the region showed them to have 100% homology with each other and their identity ranged from 99.4% to 99.7% with GenBank reference sequences. All the EPEC isolates were multi-drug resistant, showing the highest resistance to amoxicillin (80.9%) and cephalexin (76.19%). Conclusion The study highlighted the association of EPEC with piglet’s diarrhoea in northeastern India. EPEC isolates belonged to many serotypes and phenotypically all were multi-drug resistant with close genetic homology.

中文翻译：

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印度东北部分离的猪肠道致病性大肠杆菌的特征

摘要 简介 肠致病性大肠杆菌 (EPEC) 是引起胃肠炎的主要病原体之一，尤其是在免疫功能低下的年轻宿主中。该研究报告了印度东北部仔猪 EPEC 的流行、特征和分子流行病学。材料与方法共收集粪便样本457份，从中分离出1286株大肠杆菌，并通过PCR筛选。对产生的 EPEC 菌株进行血清分型和表型表征，以抵抗 15 种抗菌剂。此外，分析了 11 个选定菌株的系统发育序列。结果共有42株（3.26%）菌株属于非典型EPEC，其中15株（35.71%，占该农场类型654株的2.29%）有组织分离，27株（64.29%，4株）。这种农场类型的 632 株菌株中有 27% 来自无组织的农场；此外，从本地品种中分离出 5 个（EPEC 菌株的 11.90% 和 330 个菌株的 1.51%），从杂交仔猪中分离出 37 个（88.10% 和 956 个菌株的 3.87%）。血清群 O111 (11.9%) 和 O118 (7.14%) 是目前 10 个中最普遍的。对该区域11个分离株的eaeA基因长度序列分析表明，它们彼此具有100%的同源性，与GenBank参考序列的同一性范围为99.4%至99.7%。EPEC所有菌株均具有多重耐药性，对阿莫西林（80.9%）和头孢氨苄（76.19%）的耐药性最高。结论 该研究强调了 EPEC 与印度东北部仔猪腹泻的关系。