Isolation, Serotyping and In-vitro and In-vivo Antibacterial Sensitivity of Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Diarrheic Lambs in Kashmir

Epidemiological studies on diarrhea in lambs, have shown that colibacillosis is one of the most important causes of neonatal lamb diarrhea that is followed by mortality and is responsible for 14-30 per cent of lamb deaths (Ahmed, 2009). The disease is caused by pathogenic serotypes of Escherichia coli (Gyles, 1992). Escherichia coli (E. coli), a member of family Enterobacteriaceae is a short Gram negative, non-spore forming motile bacillus. According to modified Kauffman scheme, the organism is serotyped on the basis of its somatic (O), flagellar (H) and capsular (K) surface antigens (Lior, 1996). The distribution of different serotypes of E. coli varies with the geographical regions and their prevalence in man and animals in a particular area. Over 700 antigenic types or serotypes of E. coli have been recognized based on these three antigens (Nataro and Kaper, 1998). The detection and accurate identification of E. coli is enormously important as the distribution of different serotypes and the prevalence in animals varies with the geographical regions (Hassan and Sheikh, 2013). Although antibiotics are International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 2 (2017) pp. 955-960 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com