Swine Dysentery: Induction and Characterization in Isolated Colonic Loops

Abstract

The development of the lesions of swine dysentery in surgically isolated colonic loops of growing pigs was studied. Operated, uninoculated pigs served as controls, and test pigs received one of the following preparations: Vibrio coli in saline, V. coli in gastric mucin, crude minced colon from pigs with active dysentery, and filtered minced colon from pigs with active dysentery. A comparison was made of lesions of dysentery in isolated colonic loops with those that developed after oral inoculation of normal pigs. When inoculated into the surgical loops, filtered and unfiltered crude minced colon produced lesions of dysentery within 72 h after inoculation. Intact animals orally inoculated with the same material were unaffected up to 196 h. Use of the isolated loop may be a more sensitive system for the development of lesions of swine dysentery. Direct instillation of loops with V. coli preparations did not produce lesions.