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Title: PRODUCTION OF INTERNALLY CONTAMINATED EGGS BY LAYING HENS INFECTED EXPERIMENTALLY WITH SALMONELLA HEIDELBERG

Author
item Gast, Richard
item Holt, Peter
item Guard, Jean

Submitted to: American Association of Avian Pathologists
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2004
Publication Date: 7/28/2004
Citation: Gast, R.K., Holt, P.S., Bouldin, J.G. 2004. Production of Internally Contaminated Eggs by Laying Hens Infected Experimentally With Salmonella Heidelberg. Program of American Association of Avian Pathologists Annual Meeting. p.38.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Internal contamination of eggs laid by hens infected with Salmonella enteritidis has been a leading international public health concern since the mid 1980's. Considerable resources have been committed to detecting and controlling S. enteritidis infections in commercial laying flocks. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported the association of eggs or egg-containing foods with several human S. heidelberg outbreaks. The present study determined whether S. heidelberg isolates obtained from these egg-associated human outbreaks could be deposited inside eggs laid by experimentally infected hens. Groups of laying hens were orally inoculated with large doses of four S. heidelberg strains and an S. enteritidis strain that caused egg contamination in prior studies. All five Salmonella strains colonized the intestinal tracts and invaded to reach the livers, spleens, ovaries, and oviducts of inoculated hens. All four S. heidelberg strains were also recovered from the interior liquid contents of eggs laid by infected hens, although at lower frequencies than the S. enteritidis strain.