Investigation of putative CDT gene in Escherichia coli isolates from pigs with diarrhea.

In this study, 98 Escherichia coli isolates from 42 diarrheic neonatal piglets were screened for the presence of cytolethal distending toxin coding gene by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR yielded a single product which was specifically generated for E. coli cdt(+) control strain and not for other control strains. Twenty two (22.4%) of the isolates tested were cdtB positive, and 50% of the cdtB(+) isolates were also estII positive. The most prevalent pathotype was O32 cdtB(+) estII(+), which accounted for 59% of the cdtB positive strains. These results indicate an association between the presence of the cdtB gene and diarrhea, and support the need for further studies to determine the role of this toxin in diarrhea.