Salmonella Gallinarum is the agent of fowl typhoid in poultry and infects mainly adult galliforms, causing significant economic losses in poultry production. Because quails are susceptible to this disease and quail production is becoming increasingly important in Brazil, this study was carried out to evaluate the virulence of Salmonella Gallinarum strain to quails. The inoculum was prepared from S. Gallinarum strain resistant to nalidixic acid. Forty eight 16-week-old Japanese quails were randomly distributed in three groups. Before the experiment, cloacal swabs were collected from all birds in order to confirm they were free from Salmonella spp. Cloacal swabs and fecal samples were collected on days 03, 06, 09, 12, and 15 post-inoculation. Birds that died during the experiment were submitted to post-mortem examination, and had their organs aseptically collected for bacteriological examination. All eggs produced during the experiment were also examined. The mortality rate recorded during the experiment was 43.75% (21/48). S. Gallinarum was recovered from the organs of the birds that naturally died during the experiment, but the agent was not isolated from the organs of sacrificed birds. No egg sample was positive for Salmonella Gallinarum. It was concluded that S. Gallinarum may be recovered from the organs of experimentally-infected Japanese quails.
Eggs, forced molting, zinc oxide, fasting, wheat midds diet.Submitted: July/2011 Approved: December/2012 ABStRACtThe aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Salmonella in common quails submitted to forced molting. A total of 240 quails were divided at 40 weeks of age into four groups: CG (control, quails not submitted to molting); FM (fasting method); WM (fed wheat midds ad libitum); and ZM (zinc oxide method). From each group, 10 cloacal swabs, 10 fecal samples, and 20 egg samples were collected before molting (two weeks) and after molting (two weeks). The microbiological procedures for Salmonella spp. identification were performed in four steps. The agglutination test, using somatic and flagellar antigens, was used to confirm Salmonella-suspected colonies. According to the methodology applied, none of the samples was positive for Salmonella spp. The results showed that 20.0% of the egg samples from birds submitted to forced molting were contaminated with enterobacteria. It was concluded that, under the conditions of the present experiment, the stress caused by forced molting did not induce infection by Salmonella spp. or increased Enterobacteriaceae contamination levels in the eggs.
This study aimed at evaluating bacterial shedding, as detected in swabs, feces, and eggs of quails submitted to forced molting by feed fasting and experimentally infected with a Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) strain. In the experiment, 84 40-week-old Italian female quails were distributed in the following groups: FI (quails induced to molt by fasting and inoculated with Salmonella Enteritidis -SE); CI (quails fed with a laying diet and inoculated with SE); FNI (quails induced to molt by fasting and not inoculated with SE); and CNI (quails fed with a laying feed and not inoculated with SE). Feces, cloacal swabs, and eggs were collected on day 1, 3, 7 and 14 post-inoculation (dpi) and submitted to bacteriological analyses. All samples obtained from cloacal swabs were negative for SE. None of the quails of the non-inoculated groups (FNI and CNI) were positive for SE in the fecal samples. Among the inoculated quails, the FI group presented significantly higher (p< 0.05) SE shedding in the feces on 1 dpi than the CI group. On 4 dpi, no significant difference was observed (p< 0.05) in SE shedding between the inoculated quail groups. On 7 dpi, only the FI group shed SE in the feces, whereas on 14 dpi, none of the groups shed SE. According to the results, we concluded that quails submitted to molting by fasting have higher possibility of shedding SE in the feces.
Salmonellosis is an infection caused by specific or non specific serotypes of the Salmonella genus, responsible for losses in the poultry industry. Fowl typhoid, caused by S. Gallinarum (SG) is important because it causes elevated mortality in adult birds, leading to economic losses in the poultry industry. This study aimed at quantifying the number of viable SG cells in the liver, spleen, lung, cecum, and reproductive tract (ovary and testicles) of experimentally inoculated Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix), as well as SG shedding in their feces. One hundred and two Japanese quails, with four months of age at the beginning of the experiment, were used. The birds were inoculated with three bacterial cultures containing different concentrations (6x10 4 CFU/0.1mL, 2x105 CFU/0.4mL, or 5x10 6 CFU/0.2mL) of SG resistant to nalidixic acid. On days 1, 4, 7, and 14 after the inoculation (dpi) individual cloacal swabs were collected from six birds per group, which were subsequently sacrificed for organ sampling. The swab samples were streaked directly on plates containing brilliant green agar and nalidixic acid (VBNal). Samples that were negative after 24h, were streaked again. The collected organs were individually macerated and transferred to buffered peptone water at 0.1%. The solutions were immediately diluted serially for CFU counting in VBNal. SG was successfully recovered from one quail, which was inoculated with 2x10 5 CFU/0.4mL, and from five quails of the group inoculated with 5x10 6 CFU/0.2mL inoculum. All of the analyzed cloacal swab samples were negative. Therefore, this study demonstrated it was difficult to isolate SG from the analyzed organs and that it was not possible to recover thepathogen in the cloacal swabs collected from inoculated quails. These results may be explained by the absence of flagella in SG, inducing weak intestinal immune response in the beginning of the infection and preventing its isolation in cloacal swab samples. The low positivity rate of the analyzed organs may be due to the immune status of the euthanized birds, since the SG dissemination in the animal organism occurs mostly close to death, which was observed in the birds found dead during the experiment.
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