Virulence factors of Escherichia coli isolated from turkeys with airsac disease: survey of iss, tsh and iuc genes

• Grant number: 11/18213-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2011
• End date: October 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Pathology
• Principal Investigator: Terezinha Knöbl
• Grantee: Maria Gabriela Xavier de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The turkey commercial farms are expanding in Brazil in the last two decades, with a significant increase in the consumption of sausages and meat products. However, the national literature about turkey´s diseases is poor. The aerossaculitis is a frequent cause of poultry carcasses condemnation in slaughterhouses. Pathogenic Escherichia coli, known as APEC, is the most frequent agent involved in poultry aerossaculitis. The APEC pathotype classification is based on the presence of virulence genes that allow the agent to escape from host defense mechanisms, being able to adhere to and colonize the respiratory tract mucous membranes, capture iron, and resist phagocytic action of the serum. The frequency of virulence genes iss (increased serum survival), tsh (temperature sensitive haemagglutinin), and iuc (aerobactin syntesis) in APEC has been correlated with virulence in chickens. The objective of this study is to investigate the presence of virulence genes in E. coli strains isolated from the air sacs of airssaculitis condemned turkeys.(AU)