Clinical, Pathological and Bacteriological Investigations on Air Sacculitis in Chickens in Ismailia Province (Egypt).

Abstract. This study was carried out to investigate the clinical, pathological and bacteriological aspects of five poultry farms at Ismailia province(Egypt) suffering from respiratory symptoms accompanied with enteritis. Post-mortem findings suggested septicemia. Bacteriological examination revealed the isolation of E. coli (60 % & 40%), Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT, 26.6 % & 20%) and E. coli concomitant with Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (18.6 % & 12%) in broilers and layers chickens respectively. The eighty-five E. coli isolates were serotyped as follow: seventy were identified to six different serotypes, O78, O26, O1, O2, O157 and O111, with different frequencies. The results of the biological properties of the E.coli isolates revealed that all E. coli isolates bind Congo red (100). β-hemolysin was observed in 48 isolates (56.47%) and enterotoxins assays revealed that two E. coli strains recovered from birds were O26 (22.86%) and O157 (5.71%), while invasiveness assay revealed negative results. The in vitro Antimicrobial resistance patterns of the isolates were reported. Experimental infections of ORT were examined and scored weekly. Recovery from respiratory disease was overall most successful after Enrofloxacin treatment. It could be concluded that air sacculitis due to E.coli and ORT is prevalent among broiler and layers chickens at Ismailia province. E. coli is the most commonly incriminated agent and Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale stands as the second most important pathogen. So, management and sanitation practices designed to reduce the number of these types of organisms in the birds' environment are necessary