The Relative Pathogenicity of Some Salmonella Serotypes for Chicks

Abstract

A GREAT deal of evidence has been accumulated to show that Salmonella serotypes can be isolated from flocks of chicks which were experiencing severe mortality. Very little work has been done, except with Salmonella pullorum and Salmonella gallinarum, to show the actual mortality that serotypes may cause when fed to chicks. Milner and Shaffer2 and Shaffer, et al.4 have infected chicks orally with known doses of various Salmonella species as a measure of the infective ability of the organisms as determined by the ability to recover the organisms. They have some data on the mortality following infection. Gwatkin and Grinewitch' and Seiburth and Johnson3 have reported on the mortality caused by Salmonella typhimurium when given orally to chicks. Since it is sometimes difficult to convince a poultryman or hatcheryman that these organisms can cause mortality, the following experiments were undertaken.