Relationship between clinical symptomatology on the isolation of Salmonella Gallinarum of japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix)

Abstract

Salmonella Gallinarum is capable of causing high mortality in birds of the order Galliformes. This study aimed to relate the presence of clinical signs with the recovery of Salmonella Gallinarum from organs and c loacal swabs of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix) experimentally infected. A total of 70 female quails were housed in a pair per cage and divided in two groups (IG: quails inoculated with 1.5x106 CFU of Salmonella Gallinarum Nalr/mL and CG: control group). After the inoculation, birds were evaluated three times a day to verify the presence of clinical signs. Birds that presented ruffled feathers, eyes closed and remained quiet in the cage were removed for euthanasia, as well as the same number of birds from the inoculated groups that presented no clinical signs and from the control group. Cloacal swabbing was performed following euthanasia for the sampling of liver, spleen, caeca, ovarian follicles and lung for microbiological procedure. Quails with clinical signs and quails found dead presented positivity of 100%. While inoculated quails with no clinical signs presented a lower positivity (38.5%). Therefore, quails with septicemia caused by SG present clinical signs of the disease and the pathogen can be isolated and quantified in the organs.