[Pathology and pathogenesis of coli dysentery and coli diarrhea in suckling piglets. 2. Studies on the experimental induction of disease through the intragastric administration of coli-enterotoxin].

Fractionated intragastric application of a crude enterotoxin of Escherichia coli O 149:K91 (B) K88 (L) was part of experimental intoxication of 88 nursed piglets, aged between one and three days. The experiment was based on culture filtrate supernatant which had produced positive enterotoxic effect in an intestinal ligature test of swine and rabbit. The results were compared with 50 controls, piglets of the same age with intragastric administration of physiological salt solution. The experiment gave pronounced aquaeous diarrhoea (100 per cent) accoumpanied by exsiccosis, weight loss, rough hair, greyish discoloration of the skin, and other manifestations. The mortality was nine per cent. The clinical and pathomorphological picture of the enterotoxin syndrome was in close agreement with spontaneous coli-bacillosis of nursed piglets. Enterotoxin-caused diarrhoea occurred, with the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane remaining morphologically intact. This intoxication method has proved to be a safe model for experimental induction of coli-bacillosis, and it is likely to be suitable for vaccine testing. It can be used, as well, as a simple qualitative enterotoxin test. Additional issues relating to the pathology and pathogenesis of the coli-enterotoxin syndrome of piglets are discussed.