PubMed1982
A clinical and microbiological study was carried out on 21 diarrhoeic calves less than 20 days old, belonging to 20 different farms in the French department of Sarthe. Each diarrhoeic calf was compared with a clinically healthy calf of the same age, from the same farm. Two visits were made : one during the acute phase of diarrhoea, the other 10 to 15 days later. Of the 21 diarrhoeic calves, nine died. On the first visit, rotavirus was found in faeces of 11 diarrhoeic calves and E. coli K99+ ST+ in faeces of three diarrhoeic calves, in two cases together with rotavirus. At the same time, rotavirus was found in the faeces of five control calves whereas E. coli K99+ ST+ was not present. On the second visit, rotavirus was detected in the faeces of one of the 12 surviving diarrhoeic calves and in the faeces of two control calves. No E. coli K99+ and ST+ was found in any of the two groups. Short duration antibiotic treatment (sulfonamide + colistin) carried out on the first visit did not result in increased resistance of E. coli to the ten antibiotics tested. On the contrary, cases of resistance to certain of these antibiotics were more frequent during the acute phase of illness (and before any treatment) than 10 to 15 days later. This fact was explained by the presence, in at least five cases, of multiresistant E. coli strains which disappeared with recovery.