Investigation of three E.coli serogroups (APEC) isolated from fertile eggs of commercial chicken in the southern region of Syria [electronic resource].

Includes references.

E.coli bacteria has been isolated from a total of two hundred one day old fertile eggs of commercial meat type chicken from poultry farms in the southern region of Syria (Daraa and Souweida) by taking samples from the eggshells and yolks. Eggs were not subjected to cleaning and sterilization. So, we obtained 94% isolates from Daraa eggshell samples and 92% isolates from Souweida but all yolk samples were found free of E.coli bacteria. The motility of all isolates as one of the virulence factors were tested and found that 94.6% from Souweida isolates and 94.7% from Daraa isolates were motile. The hemolysis, as another virulence factor, was tested in all isolates and we found that 94.6% of Souweida isolates were hemolytic and 76.1% of them were type beta (entirely hemolytic), but in Daraa 95.7% of the isolates were hemolytic and 72.3% of them were type beta. Isolates were serotyped by agglutination test with a specific antisera of somatic antigen to the three serogroups 01, 02 and 078 which are considered from the most prevalent and pathogenic serogroups in poultry farms. A percentage of 74.5% and 79.3% from the isolates of Daraa and Souweida, respectively were belonged to the three tested serogroups.

Summary in Arabic.