ABSTRACT
Considering the economic importance of enteritis in piglets the pourpose of this study was to verify the frequency of bacterial, viral or protozoan agents in the feces of piglets with diarrhea from swine herds of the State of São Paulo. A hundred and seventy-four piglets from 21 swine herds with ages between 1 and 38 days, were examined. Intestinal sections and fecal samples were submitted to bacteriological, parasitological and virological tests and 117 animals were positive. Escherichia coli ETEC was isolated from 70 (40,2%) samples, Isospora suis were found in 55 (36,1%) animals, rotavirus were detected in 19 (10,9%) piglets, 2 (1,2%) animals were positive for Cryptosporidium parvum and 57 (32,8 %) animals were negative for any of above the agents. The most frequent association of agents was I. suis and E. coli ETEC, being observed in 19 (10,9%) animals. The detection of I. suis was statistically associated to piglets with age between 8 and 14 days of age. About the 70 animals positive for E.coli ETEC, 25,7% presented the genotype Sta+, 21,5% the STb+, 7,1% the LT+, 4,3% the Sta+STb+, 34,3% the STb+LT+, and 7,1% the Sta+STb+LT+. This study contributed to the indentification of the most frequent causes of enteritis in piglets from the studied regions, supporting decisions of the swine practitioners for control and preventive measures.
KEY WORDS:
Pig; diarrhea; enteritis; Escherichia coli; Isospora suis; rotavirus.