Epidemiology of diarrhoea caused by rotavirus and Escherichia coli in lambs in Kashmir valley, India

One hundred and twenty-nine faecal samples, collected over a period of 1 year, from 96 diarrhoeic and 33 non-diarrhoeic lambs aged between 0 and 3 months were examined for presence of rotavirus and Escherichia coli (E. coli). Group A rotavirus was detected in 24 (25%) of diarrhoeic lambs using sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and ribonucleic acid-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (RNA-PAGE). Statistically no significant relation was found between rotavirus infection and age of the lambs. The prevalence of group A rotavirus was more related to meterological changes than age of the lambs as the number of diarrhoeic lambs with rotavirus infection was found to increase in spring months during which temperature and humidity ranged between 7.34 and 28.9 °C and 34.28 and 82.58%, respectively. The migration pattern of ovine rotavirus RNA in PAGE was typical of mammalian group A rotaviruses. O25, O26, O30, O43, O75, O76, O102, O113, O132, O153 and O157 E. coli serogroups were isolated from diarrhoeic lambs positive for rotavirus infection while as O8, O20, O21, O26, O39, O43, O45, O69, O75, O82, O104, O107, O113, O120, O127, O139, O141, O143, O153 and O157 serogroups of E. coli were isolated from diarrhoeic lambs without rotavirus infection. O8, O21, O43, O82, O104, O113, O120, O127, O132 and O139 serogroups, recovered from diarrhoeic faecal samples with or without rotavirus, were positive for congo red dye binding activity. O88, O113, O157 and O168 serogroups were isolated from non-diarrhoeic faecal samples out of which O88 and O168 were congo red positive. None of the lambs without diarrhoea carried rotavirus infection. Group B rotavirus infection commonly reported in diarrhoeic lambs outside India was not detected in any of the faecal samples screened.