Differences among Six Salmonella Serovars in Abilities to Colonize Reproductive Organs and to Contaminate Eggs in Laying Hens

Abstract

The abilities of Salmonella serovars to colonize the reproductive organs of chickens and to contaminate eggs were compared. Mature laying hens were inoculated intravenously with 10(5) colony-forming units of Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella infantis, Salmonella hadar, Salmonella heidelberg, or Salmonella montevideo to cause the systemic infection. Salmonella enteritidis was recovered from three yolks of the laid eggs (7.0%), suggesting egg contamination from the transovarian transmission of S. enteritidis. The liver, spleen, and cecum were colonized by each serovar similarly at 4 or 7 days postinoculation (PI), whereas the ovary and preovulatory follicles were colonized by S. enteritidis with significantly (P < 0.05) higher levels than by the other serovars at 4 and 7 days PI. Salmonella enteritidis was recovered from the cloaca and vagina at 2, 4, and 7 days PI and from the other portions of the oviduct at 4 and 7 days PI. In addition, S. enteritidis had been persistent in the peripheral blood for 7 days PI. These results suggest that S. enteritidis is the predominant serovar to colonize the reproductive organs of mature laying hens among six serovars used in this study, reflecting the field situatibn in which the predominant outbreaks of human salmonellosis were caused by S. enteritidis-contaminated eggs recently. The ability of S. enteritidis to colonize the reproductive organs may be one of the reasons that egg contamination with S. enteritidis has increased.

A longitudinal study of environmental salmonella contamination in caged and free-range layer flocks

“…Undercooked and raw eggs have been heavily implicated in human infection with S. Enteritidis (Coyle et al ., 1988;St Louis et al ., 1988;Hogue et al ., 1997;Palmer et al ., 2000;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004;De Buck et al ., 2004;Crespo et al ., 2005). This serotype is able to cause long-term colonization of the chicken reproductive tract and become deposited within egg contents (Berchieri et al ., 2001;Okamura et al ., 2001;Amy et al ., 2004;Guard-Bouldin et al ., 2004), and in addition will cause external contamination of the shell (Messens et al ., 2005).…”

Scientific Opinion on the public health risks of table eggs due to deterioration and development of pathogens

“…The success of S. Enteritidis in the transovarian transmission route can be associated with the presence in this serovar of the SEF14 fimbriae (which might be involved in the colonization of the reproductive organs), the presence of the yafD gene (which is essential for resistance in the albumen), and with the lipopolysaccharide structure, a key factor in oviduct persistence and survival in egg albumen (Lu et al, 2003;Coward et al, 2013), particularly at a hen body temperature of 41.5 °C (Coward et al, 2013). S. Typhimurium is able to colonize ovaries and internally contaminate eggs (Okamura et al, 2001a;Wales and Davies, 2011;Martelli and Davies, 2012). Other Salmonella serovars are rarely isolated from egg contents, but can infect the hen reproductive organs (Okamura et al, 2001a;Gast et al, 2004;Martelli and Davies, 2012).…”

“…S. Typhimurium is able to colonize ovaries and internally contaminate eggs (Okamura et al, 2001a;Wales and Davies, 2011;Martelli and Davies, 2012). Other Salmonella serovars are rarely isolated from egg contents, but can infect the hen reproductive organs (Okamura et al, 2001a;Gast et al, 2004;Martelli and Davies, 2012). In an intravenous infection study, S. Heidelberg was demonstrated to be able to survive in the albumen during egg formation, while S. Virchow and S. Hadar were eliminated more rapidly, suggesting that, in natural infections, they might be killed in the albumen before ovodeposition (Gantois et al, 2008).…”

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“…O crescente progresso da indústria avícola ao longo dos anos através de melhoramentos genéticos, excelente nutrição das aves e práticas de manejo sanitário, gerou um melhor desempenho e uma boa produtividade avícola (LORA et al, 2008), ofertando ao consumidor a disponibilidade de uma fonte rica de proteína a custo acessível, no entanto, ainda existem relatos de contaminações ocorrentes em aves na própria indústria avícola (ZANCAN et al, 2000;PERDONCINI et al, 2011 (COX et al, 1996;OKAMURA et al, 2001). Em animais domésticos são observadas também infecções através da via umbilical, geniturinária e transplacentária (GREENE, 2006;RADOSTITS et al, 2007).…”