Piglets immediately after normal birth were removed from their mothers and given Escherichia coli antisera by mouth and then infected, also by mouth, with an enteropathogenic strain of E. coli (O141: K85ab,88ab) mixed with larger numbers of a non-pathogenic E. coli strain and lactobacilli.
When antisera prepared against live, heat-killed or methanol-killed organisms of the O141: K85ab,88ab strain were used, the onset of diarrhoea was delayed or prevented. Antisera prepared against porcine enteropathogenic strains not possessing any of the O or K antigens of O141: K85ab,88ab had little effect. So did antiserum against E. coli K12 to which the plasmid responsible for porcine enterotoxin production (Ent) had been transmitted. Antiserum prepared against an enteropathogenic strain O8: K87,88ab had a definite controlling effect, the effect apparently being due to the K88ab antigen common to this strain and the infecting O141: K85ab,88ab strain.
Antisera administered subcutaneously also had a controlling effect on experimental E. coli diarrhoea, but their effect was markedly less than that of the same sera given orally.
Only low concentrations of enteropathogenic E. coli organisms were found in the contents of the small intestine of piglets in which the diarrhoea was controlled by antiserum, indicating that antibacterial antibody was important in his respect.
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