Anaphylaxis in pigs and its relationship to the pathogenesis of oedema disease and gastro-enteritis associated with Escherichia coli

Abstract

Pigs were subjected to active anaphylactic shock using egg albumin and to reversed passive anaphylaxis using Escherichia coli (O138). The symptoms and lesions closely resembled those of oedema disease and haemorrhagic gastroenteritis. Catarrhal enteritis was also observed. There was a relationship between the character of the lesions which were produced and the severity and duration of the anaphylactic symptoms. Further evidence confirmed earlier observations that clinically normal pigs may develop a hypersensitivity to those serotypes of E. coli which are associated with these conditions. The results are discussed in relation to the pathogenesis of these diseases, and it is considered that oedema disease and haemorrhagic gastro-enteritis develop from an anaphylactic type of hypersensitivity to E. coli rather than from a direct toxaemia arising from the sudden absorption of increased quantities of bacterial polysaccharide.