大肠杆菌感染的鸽子

大肠杆菌感染是由细菌大肠杆菌引起的。这种细菌是很常见的世界各地，并为哺乳动物和一些鸟类的肠道常见的居民。已经有一些争论，以它是否是鸽子的作者居民，但是，我发现它在绝大多数阁楼的，我已经检查，许多不相关的生物症状，无论什么病的

E. Coli has been shown to be the cause of disease in many species of animals, and symptoms vary from species to species. This bacteria has many different “strains” that infect our pigeons that vary immensely in their ability to produce disease. These “strains” are called serotypes and can be differentiated in special laboratories for that purpose. Some serotypes can easily cause disease while others rarely do. The ability to cause disease (pathogenicity) of the various serotypes of E. coli is related to: The ability to produce toxins. Some strains of E. coli produce endotoxins which can produce profound illness. I personally feel that these endotoxins are a big cause of poor performance in some lofts. We will discuss that later. The ability to invade past the intestinal wall and cause infection in other organs. Some E. coli can readily get into the liver, kidney, and other organs producing disease. The ability to overcome the pigeons immune system. Some E. coli serotypes have the ability to avoid some of the pigeons immune defense systems and thus produce disease more readily than other serotypes.

Infection with E. coli can be classified as primary or secondary. Primary infection means that it can produce disease all by itself and indeed some serotypes of this bacteria can do this. However, in my experience, 90% of the infections are secondary. In other words there is some underlying cause for the infection. This cause is usually some form of stress such as a heavy molt, coccidia, adenovirus, canker, intestinal worms, crowding, heavy training, and poor nutrition. Because 90 % of the E. coli problems are secondary, IT IS CRITICAL to look for an underlying cause when E. coli is diagnosed in your birds.

When we diagnose E. coli infection, we usually do so based on a number of symptoms of disease problems. It rarely causes the same signs in every case. In fact, the symptoms that E. coli can cause are essentially the same as those caused by salmonella (paratyphoid). I often become suspicious of E. coli when I start to see various symptoms arise in a persons loft. The symptoms include: Enteritis: This is the most common of the problems associated with E. coli and simply is loose droppings. Pigeons that are affected typically have a green diarrhea and some will vomit. SLOW CROP EMPTYING is a big red flag for E. coli. When infected, a bird’s crop will often still have grain in it from the previous evening (it should be empty). In any event, birds can quickly lose weight and die suddenly with this form. Joint infections: E. coli like salmonella, can cause joint infections. This results in lameness or a dropped wing. Swelling may or may not be seen in the affected joint. If this occurs, it is critical to treat quickly to prevent permanent damage from occurring.

猝死：
大肠杆菌（和沙门氏菌）常见的任何年龄鸟类的突然死亡，通常没有先前的迹象。这是由于突然的压倒性感染（败血症）。这种产生毒素的大规模感染会很快杀死一只鸟。在我的实践中，我看到的与大肠杆菌感染有关的最常见的事情之一是明显肥胖的健康年轻人突然死亡。这些幼崽会吃得饱饱的，然后无缘无故地死去。如果我从这些死去的幼虫中培养出几乎任何器官，我就会得到大量的大肠杆菌。这个年龄恰逢他们从鸡蛋和农作物牛奶中获得的免疫力下降。生育问题：虽然大肠杆菌会导致两性的生育问题，但母鸡通常会散开并似乎可以下蛋，但实际上从未下蛋。有些会继续产蛋，但蛋会变软、粗糙或变小。一旦孵化进行了几天，受精的鸡蛋通常会死亡。当我们培养这些卵子时，我们会培育出有机体。有时，幼体会完全发育，根本无法孵化。当我的母鸡患有大肠杆菌问题时，我发现完全“治愈”它们非常困难。他们每年都经常遇到问题。如果您有一只患有大肠杆菌问题的好母鸡，我建议您对粪便​​进行培养（它会产生与输卵管中相同的细菌）并确定哪些抗生素对她的血清型有效。在交配前几天和产卵前的整个时间里，让她服用那种抗生素（不要使用baytril或cipro，因为它也会导致生育问题）。这通常会产生健康、受精的鸡蛋，可以毫无问题地孵化。呼吸道感染：细菌可以与其他典型的呼吸道感染原因一起感染呼吸道，例如疱疹病毒、支原体、衣原体和其他细菌。大肠杆菌不是鸟类呼吸道的正常居民，只要在其中发现它就是感染的迹象，必须进行治疗。

Symptoms of this type of infection are usually the same as pretty severe respiratory infection from other causes, exercise intolerance, open mouthed breathing, rattles, ect. Paralysis: One will often find a bird in the loft laying on the floor unable to use it’s legs, appearing paralyzed. This can be due to an overwhelming infection (septicemia) or actual infection of the nervous system. It is a serious sign, and typical of E. coli or salmonella, and must be treated quickly as death is near for these birds. Poor performance: This symptom is one that I am beginning to consider a big one in many lofts. Now remember, this one is MY OPINION ONLY, and has certainly not been shown by any experimental evidence. We know that E. coli is a TOXIN producer, some serotypes more than others. These toxins can make birds sick in large amounts, but I feel many birds have a level of infection that doesn’t make them terribly sick, but does cause them to perform poorly. I have seen several lofts that have had performance problems and in general the only thing we could find wrong was a high level of E. coli in the droppings and no other symptoms related to E. coli infection. Now these lofts are All American and President’s Cup winners, they know how to fly, lest you think the problem is the handler. When we treated with the proper antibiotic, performance dramatically improved, but when the antibiotic was stopped, performance dropped again in a week or so. On reculture the E. coli level was high again. My theory is that the way we fly pigeons today tends to predispose them to E. coli overgrowth because of: Stress: We see this especially in young birds. We train them daily, race them weekly, expect them to molt, etc. Other diseases: All of the other bugs we see such as canker, coccidia, worms, etc., predispose to E. coli infection. Medication: All of the medication that we use to control the other diseases really takes a toll on the normal flora in our birds intestine, thus predisposing to E. coli overgrowth.

The fact that antibiotic therapy for the E. coli greatly improved performance made me think that by controlling the E. coli level we might be onto something. So, in several lofts I made them an autogenous vaccine of E. coli (one from the serotype found in their birds) and we had them vaccinated. In almost every case, performance dramatically improved to championship levels and we didn’t need to use near the antibiotics that we had previously. Once again, none of this was done with the accepted scientific method, but from my observations this could be a real key for some lofts.

When we diagnose E. coli it is critical to remember that we can not do it on symptoms alone, as other bacteria, especially salmonella, cause identical symptoms. When we suspect the bug we culture the droppings and organs of an infected pigeon. When found, we run a SENSITIVITY test to determine which antibiotic will work on the serotype found. THIS IS CRITICAL AS E. COLI VARIES TREMENDOUSLY AS TO WHICH ANTIBIOTIC KILL IT. IT DEVELOPS RESISTANCE VERY QUICKLY TO ANTIBIOTICS AND YOU SHOULD NEVER ASSUME THAT WHAT WORKED ONE TIME WILL WORK THE NEXT TIME.

治疗包括三个方面：用于7-10天抗生素：关键是要具有敏感性测试完成正如我们前面所指出的，这细菌耐受多种药物。常见的抗生素，我经常发现在许多情况下工作是：

阿莫西林：1500-3000毫克/胆。

拜有利或环丙沙星：250毫克/瘿为拜有利和750毫克/瘿为环丙沙星。不使用

期间，种鸡繁殖季节。

PRIMOR：每天30毫克/鸟在水中。

复方新诺明：30-60毫克/胆

头孢氨苄：2500-3000毫克/根本原因的胆治疗：如果您无法摆脱的根本原因的造成大肠杆菌展现出来，它很快就会回来。请务必控制前面提到的事情。疫苗接种：这一直是非常有帮助的一些阁楼，并真正提高自己的表现。这可能是未来治疗的选择，陪审团还在外面。

大肠杆菌感染鸽子者：史蒂夫·韦尔博士DVM