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<OL> <LI> Determine if transmission of E. coli O157:H7 amongst swine requires direct contact with infected feces. <LI>Determine if feeding swine subtherapeutic concentrations of antibiotics inhibits colonization by E. coli O157:H7.
Non-Technical Summary: The central hypothesis of this proposal is that swine have the potential to emerge as a reservoir for E. coli O157:H7., but current management practices in the U.S. have prevented this from occurring. We propose to address the central hypothesis by pursuing our research objectives. Our long-term goal is to assure that E. coli O157:H7 does not become established (endemic) in the U.S. swine population. <P> Approach: Objective 1. Naive pigs will be housed 2/pen in adjacent pens so animals have nose-to-nose contact, but do not share food,water or have access to contaminated feces. An inoculated donor will be introduced into an adjacent pen and all animals will be cultured for the inoculum strain for 2 weeks to determine if E. coli O157:H7 can be transmitted by nose-to-nose contact between pigs. Objective 2. Groups of feeder pigs will be fed several different growth promoting antibiotics in their feed then challenged with E. coli O157:H7. The magintude and duration of colonization will be compared to that of pigs fed antibiotic-free feed.