Cases of Isolation of Escherichia albertii Strains from Commercial Quails with Gastroenteritis in Russia

<i>Escherichia albertii</i> is a lactose-negative Escherichia that causes gastritis and enteritis in humans. An analysis of possible sources of infection points out that poultry may be a significant reservoir for this pathogen. The question of whether <i>E. albertii</i> can cause infections in poultry is still unanswered. Our article describes the isolation of <i>E. albertii</i>, for the first time in Russia, from the intestines of birds on a quail farm and a characterization of obtained cultures. We isolated different bacteria from pathological poultry material using bacteriological methods and ruled them out as probable causes for enteritis. The biochemical identification of <i>E. albertii</i> and antibiotic sensitivity were performed using a Vitek-2 Compact instrument. Bacterial identification was carried out using the MALDI-TOF Biotyper instrument. <i>E. albertii</i>-specific genes, virulence factor genes, and microcin genes were detected by real-time PCR. It was concluded that <i>E. albertii</i> isolated from sites of intestinal inflammation are a potential cause of enteritis and high poultry mortality-up to 15% of total livestock for 10- to 20-day-old quails. One of the <i>E. albertii</i> culture differed from the main group of <i>Escherichia</i> by its biochemical properties, and subsequent PCR analysis showed a lack of the intimin gene (<i>eae</i>). We describe the first occasion of infection caused by <i>E. albertii</i> in industrial quails. During the study, it was found that, according to the molecular-genetic and phenotypic properties of isolated strains in quails, there were at least two clonal groups of <i>E. albertii</i> differing in antibiotic resistance, biochemical indices, and presence of the <i>eae</i> (intimin) gene.