Prevention of scours in neonatal kids after modification of management and experimental vaccination against Escherichia coli

The purpose of this study was to evaluate under field conditions, the role that right management and vaccination against Escherichia coli plays in the prevention of neonatal kid diarrhoea. To meet this objective, a goat farm of low management standards suffering from a neonatal diarrhoea problem caused by enteropathogenic strains of E. coli was selected. Three experimental groups of new-born kids with their mothers were formed: (a) the kids in Group I were raised under the management conditions already existing in the farm, and served as negative controls, (b) the kids in Group II were raised under improved conditions, including specially prepared warm and draft-free areas for kidding and nursing, and (c) the kids in Group III were raised under the improved conditions of Group II, but were born from does previously vaccinated for E. coli. The three groups were compared with regard to the incidence and duration of diarrhoea, and the mortality of kids. It was shown that, compared to the control group, neonatal morbidity and mortality were both reduced by a factor of 3 in Group II, and by factors of 9.5 and 12.5, respectively, in Group III (P < 0.05). Also, the duration of diarrhoea was 3.7 and 12 times shorter in the kids of Groups II and III, respectively, when compared to the control animals (P < 0.05). Samples of diarrhoeic faeces from kids in the control group resulted in the isolation of K88 and K99 strains of E. coli. It was concluded that specific vaccination of does followed by improvements in neonatal management may drastically reduce the development of E. coli scours in kids under field conditions. © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.