Immunocompromise in gnotobiotic pigs induced by verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (O111:NM)

A verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli serotype O111:NM strain (strain 10049; verotoxin 1 positive) persistently infected experimentally inoculated gnotobiotic pigs, causing attaching-effacing intestinal lesions and chronic diarrhea. Experiments were performed to determine whether persistent infection might be associated with immunocompromise of the host by this organism. Pigs inoculated with this strain had a significant reduction in peripheral blood lymphocytes and lower antibody titers to sheep erythrocytes compared with control pigs. Compared with pigs given a verotoxin-negative pathogenic strain of the same serotype (O111:NM, strain 2430), pigs inoculated with the verotoxin-positive strain had lower peripheral lymphocyte counts and proliferative responses to concanavalin A, phytohemagglutinin, and pokeweed mitogens. The results of this study suggest that strain 10049 has an immunocompromising effect on gnotobiotic pigs.