Serotyping of O and pilus antigens of Escherichia coli strains isolated from chickens with coli-septicemia.

One hundred and fifty one Escherichia coli strains were isolated from broiler chickens with coli-septicemia in Aichi (63 strains), Shizuoka (58 strains), and Kagoshima (30 strains) prefectures from 1980 to 1987, and their O and pilus antigens were serologically typed. One hundred and twenty five strains (82.8%) were typed into 23 O serogroups, and twenty six strains (17.2%) remained untypable. The predominant O serogroups were O2 (35 strains, 23.2%) and O78 (24 strains, 15.9%). Distribution of O serogroup was different, depending on prefectures where they are isolated. In total, 109 strains (72.2%) possessed Type 1 and/or Fmsha pili (Type 1; 41 strains, Fmsha; 22 strains, and Type 1 and Fmsha; 46 strains), and 42 strains (27.2%) were non-piliated. All the strains lacked K88, K99, 987P, F41, and Att25 pili. The ratios of piliated strains to non-piliated ones were almost the same among the three prefectures. Strains possessing Type 1 pili showed variety of O antigens, but most of the strains with Fmsha pili belonged to O2 serogroup.