Abstract:[Objective] To study the association of biofilm formation ability with drug-resistance and virulence of Escherichia coli isolated from diarrhea piglets. [Methods] In total 129 strains of clinically isolated and identified pathogenic E. coli were collected. The in vitro biofilm formation, the drug-resistance phenotype, the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of biofilm bacteria and planktonic, and the median lethal dose (LD50) in mice were then evaluated by the 96-well micro plate method, the K-B method, the micro dilution method, and the Curtiss modified method, respectively. [Results] The positive rate of biofilm formation was 96.1% among the 129 isolates with the majority of them to be lowly positive. The resistance rate to tetracycline, ampicillin and amoxicillin was 92.2%, 92.2%, and 93%, respectively. The lowest resistance rate to imipenem was 1.6%. Ninety-four multi resistant phenotypes were displayed in the isolates, with 86% of them to be amoxicillin-ampicillin-tetracycline-doxycycline-cotrimoxazole-trimethoprim, which was the most frequent type and was correlated to ciprofloxacin, florfenicol, levofloxacin, norfloxacin, cephradine and cefoperazone (p<0.05). The MIC of ciprofloxacin and florfenicol on biofilm bacteria was 2–16 and 8?16 times, respectively, higher than on planktonic bacteria. Isolates with biofilm formation 3+ showed the highest LD50. [Conclusion] Pathogenic E. coli in diarrhea piglets showed the biofilm formation ability and were multi-resistant. Drug resistance of bacteria with biofilm formation to ciprofloxacin and florfenicol was positively correlated to the biofilm formation ability, and LD50 also increased with a stronger biofilm formation ability.