Experimental Peracute Colibacillosis: Gastrointestinal Lesions in Gnotobiotic Piglets.

Three-day-old, hysterectomy-derived germ-free piglets were challenged with an enteropathogenic strain of Escherichia coli. This particular strain (serotype 08:K87, K88ac:H19) was highly pathogenic and produced clinical signs of enteric colibacillosis. The major lesions consisted of marked gastric dilation and extensive congestion involving the greater curvature of the fundus. The gastrointestinal lesions were considered to be the direct result of the active infection by this strain. No similar condition was observed in similar experiments with 16 other E. coli serotypes in neonatal germ-free swine.