Fowl Typhoid (Salmonella Gallinarum) Outbreak in Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

• Published in: Avian diseases Vol. 58; no. 3; pp. 491 - 494
• Main Authors: Casagrande, Renata A, Wouters, Angelica T Barth, Wouters, Flademir, Pissetti, Caroline, Cardoso, Marisa R de Itapema, Driemeier, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association of Avian Pathologists 01.09.2014
• Subjects: Animals; Brazil - epidemiology; Coturnix - microbiology; Disease Outbreaks - veterinary; Poultry Diseases - epidemiology; Poultry Diseases - microbiology; Poultry Diseases - pathology; Salmonella enterica - genetics; Salmonella enterica - isolation & purification; Salmonella enterica - physiology; Salmonella Infections, Animal - epidemiology; Salmonella Infections, Animal - microbiology; Salmonella Infections, Animal - pathology
• ISSN: 1938-4351; 0005-2086; 1938-4351
• DOI: 10.1637/10796-021114-Case.1

A fowl typhoid (FT) outbreak is reported in a flock of 400 Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) at 91 days of age. Of these, 222 died suddenly, and necropsy revealed swollen liver and spleen with off-white to yellowish granules and reddish small intestine mucosa. Histopathology showed severe multifocal necrosis of liver and spleen (5/5), pulmonary congestion with macrophage infiltration in air capillaries (5/5), discrete interstitial nephritis (2/2), superficial necrosis of the intestinal mucosa with large numbers of coccobacilli (2/2), moderate peritonitis (2/2), and discrete airsacculitis (1/1). Anti-Salmonella immunohistochemistry (IHC) stained the cytoplasm of macrophages or free in the liver (5/5), spleen (5/5), lungs (4/5), kidneys (2/2) small intestine mucosa (2/2), cecum (1/1), bone marrow (1/1), air sacs (1/1), and ovary (1/1). In the heart (5/5), brain (2/2), esophagus (2/2), pancreas (2/2), proventriculus (2/2), gizzard (1/1), bursa of Fabricius (1/1), oviduct (1/1), and skeletal muscle (1/1) staining was observed only in the lumen of blood vessels. Salmonella Gallinarum was isolated in pure cultures of liver, spleen, lung, intestine, and blood samples of two birds.