An Encephalitic Form of Listeriosis in Broiler Chickens

Abstract

A disease outbreak characterized by torticollis, incoordination, and depression was seen in a commercial broiler operation in California. Listeria monocytogenes was isolated from brain tissue with some degree of difficulty, and only after culturing directly from the brain stem. No evidence of concurrent disease was found, and the source of the outbreak was undetermined.

Outbreak of encephalitic listeriosis in red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)

“…In line with previous publications, isolation of L. monocytogenes was restricted to swabs from the brain and there was mixed growth on routine cultures in the initial submission, from which L. monocytogenes was isolated (Gray, 1958;Cooper, 1989). The success rate for isolating L. monocytogenes improved when media selective for Listeria spp.…”

“…Previous outbreaks of avian encephalitic listeriosis have so far been reported in chickens and had morbidities <0.5% (Cooper, 1989;Cooper et al, 1992;Kurazono et al, 2003). The estimated morbidity of encephalitic listeriosis in the first batch of red-legged partridges in this case was higher and approximated 3%.…”

“…Listeriosis in birds mostly presents as septicaemia with splenomegaly, necrosis of liver and myocardium as well as pericarditis (Gray, 1958;Barnes & Nolan, 2008). Reports of outbreaks of avian encephalitic listeriosis are rare and originate mostly from chickens in the USA, Japan and India (Cooper, 1989;Cooper et al, 1992;Vijayakrishna et al, 2000;Kurazono et al, 2003). Wet weather (flooding), de-beaking or injections into the neck were reported to be likely predisposing factors.…”

“…Interestingly, the isolates from the previously reported outbreaks of avian encephalitic listeriosis in chickens in the USA and Japan all belonged to serogroup 4b (Cooper, 1989;Cooper et al, 1992;Kurazono et al, 2003), as did one of the isolates from red-legged partridges in France in 1957; the other isolate was no further classified than serogroup 1 (Lucas & Seeliger, 1957). These had been to the best of our knowledge the only reported L. monocytogenes isolates from red-legged partridges worldwide.…”

Listeria monocytogenes: silage, sandwiches and science

“…However, it is clear that gastroenteritis can occur in healthy humans following ingestion of certain strains of L. monocytogenes (Aureli et al, 2000;Ooi and Lorber, 2005). In addition, L. monocytogenes is also a significant veterinary pathogen causing septicemia, central nervous system (CNS) infection, or abortion in a wide array of domestic animal species including poultry (Cooper, 1989), primates (Farber et al, 1991), cats (Decker et al, 1976), pigs (Long and Dukes, 1972), horses (Jose-Cunilleras and Hinchcliff, 2001), and most prominently cows (Pfister et al, 2002) and sheep (Wiedmann et al, 1997). It is the latter two species which present the greatest veterinary concern and pose the greatest zoonotic threat, principally as a result of L. monocytogenes contamination of milk or meat.…”