Recurring outbreaks by the same Escherichia coli ST10 clone in a broiler unit during 18 months

The current investigation aimed at characterizing the cause of multiple disease outbreaks in the same broiler production unit during a course of 18 months. The outbreaks had mortality rates of up to 22%. E. coli was diagnosed as the responsible agent. Multiple-locus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis showed that all chicken isolates had identical band patterns. Core genome comparisons demonstrated that the 36 chicken isolates differed with maximum of nine nucleotides indicating that the same E. coli clone was responsible for all seven disease outbreaks despite adherence to the all-in-all production principle and rigorous cleaning and disinfection procedures.