Attaching and effacing Escherichia coli O103 : K+:H- in red-legged partridges

Escherichia coli infections are responsible for significant economic losses in the poultry industry worldwide. Strains of E coli frequently implicated in poultry disease are designated avian pathogenic E coli (APEC). APEC are typically of the serotypes O1:K1, O2:K1 or O78:K80; they possess fimbriae and flagella, and are frequently associated with systemic disease (La Ragione and Woodward 2002). A number of reports have described enteropathogenic E coli-like attaching and effacing E coli (AEEC) of the serotypes O103 and O86 in poultry and wild birds (Fukui and others 1995, Foster and others 1998). Experimentally, E coli O157:H7, O26:H11, O15:H10, O111:H– and