Swine enteric colibacillosis: diagnosis, therapy and antimicrobial resistance

Table 5 Differential diagnosis of the main agents of post-weaning diarrhoea (modified from Martelli et al. 2013) [28]

Disease/Etiological Agent	Age	Diarrhoea	Gross Lesions	Lethality	Laboratory diagnostic methods
Colibacillosis E.coli (ETEC, EPEC)	Most commonly post-weaning until 45–50 days	Yellowish, grey or slightly pink alkaline pH	Distension, congestion of small intestine. Gastritis and stomach full of feed	Can reach 25%	Culture/isolation. Typing of isolates usually by PCR. Histopathology
Swine dysentery Brachyspira hyodysenteriae	Frequent in the growing-fattening periods	Muco-haemorrhagic	Muco-haemorrhagic and fibrino-necrotic typhlocolitis	Variable, usually low	Culture/isolation. Typing by PCR. Histopathology
Salmonellosis (Salmonella typhimurium)	Mostly in the growing-fattening periods	Yellowish, greenish, muco-haemorrhagic	Necrotic lesions yellowish membrane (small and large intestine); Prominent Payer patches	Low	Culture/isolation
PED and TGE Coronavirus PEDV TGEV	All	Watery yellow/white/grey Watery yellow, white, grey, greenish; acid pH	Empty stomach. Small intestine was thinned and congested	Can be high; less severe than in neonates	PCR Histopathology Viral isolation
Rotaviral enteritis Rotavirus	From 1 to 5 weeks	Watery, sometime pasty. Acid pH	Small intestine was thinned.	Low, <20%	PCR Histopathology Viral isolation
Proliferative enteropathy Lawsonia intracellularis	Post-weaning	A: haemorrhagic C: greenish	Ileitis	Low	PCR Histopathology

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