Poultry Bacterial Disease

Bacterial diseases are majorly

E. coli infection

Largest frequency of diagnoses is

viral disease

Second largest freq of diagnoses is

bacterial disease

Third largest freq of diagnoses is

parasitic disease

Main reservoir of HPAI

waterfowl (ducks, geese)

Horizontal Transmission

Chickens → eggs → disease infects egg

disease transmitted among same generation

Vertical Transmission

Disease → Chicken → Eggs

mothers → offspring

• Salmonella Enteritidis

Disease Transmission into chickens/eggs can come from

• insects and wildlife

• environment

• feed

• hatchery

• litter

• fomites (ex phone)

• workers

Only animal species in NA vaccinated against HPAI is

condors

What countries vaccinate against HPAI?

China, Egypt, Vietnam

Southern California has a lot of

commercial birds

backyard birds

fighting birds

Salmonella that causes foodborne illnesses or affects humans NOT birds

Salmonella Enteritidis (species, few)

Heidelberg or Typhimurium (serotypes, thousands)

Required boot swabs at

processing plant facility

Do backyard or commercial flocks have more salmonella?

Same amount for both

Performance standard must be under

certain amount of salmonella

• 13/52 in ground chicken, 7/52 in ground turkey, 8/52 in chicken parts

• doesn’t look for serotype, just presence of salmonella

Performance standard is set by

industry standard

Does cutting down performance standard change salmonella illness?

no

Prevalence of Salmonella on post-chilled carcasses

4.3%

Prevalence of Campy on post-chilled carcasses

9.4%

Enteric

in the gut

For non-typhoidal organized in 2 general groups

1. cause of clinical disease in poultry

   • host specific/adapted, causes systemic disease

   • S. pullorum (horizontal trans)

   • S. gallinarum

2. Source of food borne disease in humans

   • not host adapted

   • causes little disease in birds except chicks

Typhoid Mary (Typhoidal Salmonella)

Cook in NY over 15 years responsible for infecting 120 ppl, 5 died

• fever and abdominal pain

• typhoid fever caused by S. typhi

Mary became healthy carrier

• fecal/oral transmission contaminated food

What three countries in the world wash eggs?

Japan, Australia, US

Protective layer on egg called

bloom or cuticle

Non typhoidal Salmonella

1/6 people in US get sick each year from contaminated food

Most common bacterial cause of foodborne illness in US is

Salmonella

Sources of Salmonella

meat, poultry, eggs, produce, animal contact

NARMS

National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System

NARMS job is to

look at poultry and pig meat and beef in processing plant and retail level

• look at types of bacteria and test for resistance to antibiotics

Why does chicken have more total bacteria and resistance to antibiotics than beef/pork

We keep chicken skin on compared to other meat

• bacteria sticks to skin

• muscle is sterile

Salmonella bacteria properties

gram negative, rod shaped

Salmonella lives in the

intestinal tract, asymptomatic carriers

• animals often look healthy/clean

Salmonella is shed in

animal feces which then contaminate the environment

• shed internally

Avian Salmonellosis

Pullorum disease in poultry - S. Pullorum

Avian Salmonellosis can be spread

vertically and horizontally

Avian Salmonellosis causes

reduced hatchability

increased mortality around 5th day

Most common serovars associated w/infection in US are

Enteritidis, Typhimurium, Newport, Javiana, heidelberg, Muenchen, Infantis, Braendurup

Salmonella Serology/Antigentic structure

contains 2000+ serotypes characterized by 2 sets of surface antigens

Detecting Salmonella in the bird (Widal test)

rapid whole blood plate agglutination test

• positive has visible clumped red blood cells

• negative has nothing

Detecting Salmonella in the environment

Drag swab enrichment - PCR

Methods of Salmonella detection

Serology, isolation by culture, biochemical characteristics, PCR, whole genome sequencing

FDA environmental sampling of Salmonella E

1. 14-16 week of age, pre prod samples

2. 40-45 week prod samples

3. 4-6 week post molt samples

CEQAP environmental sampling of Salmonella E

1. Chick papers

2. 14-16 week of age, pre prod samples

3. 40-45 week prod samples

4. 4-6 week post molt samples

5. 2-4 week pre pushout samples

% environmental SE positives is highest by what stage of production

pre market

SE positive trend

lowers over the years, spike in 2007 from when major hatchery delivered infected chicks to CA egg prod but chick papers tested and mitigated outbreak

How to reduce risk of zoonotic Salmonella/Camphy Pre-Harvest

improved biosecurity, don’t recycle litter

acidification of drinking water, mitigate insect, rodent, wild bird pop, challenge of integrated farms, vaccines, reduce/eliminate farm worker and equipment cross contamination, concrete floors, follow FDA egg safety 36 hour rule

How to reduce risk of zoonotic Salmonella/Camphy Post-Harvest

increased cleaning of scald tank and rubber fingers, risk based processing, RTE product for suspect high, better packaging, better diagnostics, cook to 165 deg F, encourage public to use meat therm

Basics of husbandry (FLAWSS)

Feed, Light, Air, Water, Space, Sanitation

SEFS SE Vaccine Requirements

1st Live salmonella at Hatch day, 2nd live before 10 weeks, killed SE before egg prod

Pullorum disease in poultry - S. Pullorum

can be spread vertically and horizontally

reduced hatchability

increased mortality around 5th day

Campylobacter

C. coli and C. jejuni (over 1000 CFU/gram of fecees)

typically non-host adactive

Campylobacter bacteria qualities

gram negative thermophilic/microaerophilic bacteria

High levels of Campylobacter in intestinal tract of poultry can result in

contamination of carcass during evisceration

One of leading causes of human foodborne illness (can be more than Salmonella)

Campylobacteriosis

Campylobacteriosis is primarily linked to consumption of

chicken

In huams Campy is associated with

Guilan Barre syndrome (post infection autoimmune disorfder characterized by progressive neuromuscular paralysis)

Around 80% campy infections linked to

chickens

About 60% raw chicken has

Campy

Campy and Salmonella have

LPS, which has endotoxic activity

incubation 4-8 days, abdominal pain but usually self limiting

Control principles for Salmonella and Campy

biosecurity, cleaning/disinfection, on-farm surveillance, vaccination, competitive exclusion, pre and probiotics, feed and water hygiene, HACCP, processing plant dips and sprays, FSIS surveillance (performance standard)

What happens to Salmonella when challenged but not killed?

get creative and stubborn, express different genes that allow them to survive and make it more difficult to kill

100,000k genome project

sequences genomes of 100,000 most common food borne disease agents

important bc need reference genome to understand transcriptome

Colibacillosis

any one of syndromes in poultry caused by E. coli

• enteritis w/AEEC, eae gene present

  • ceca most commonly involved

  • common in turkeys, chickens, pigeons, quail, partridges, pheasants, ducks, ostriches,

Colibacillosis transmission

vertical or horizontal

can be intro by contaminated drinking water like nest boxes or hand cleansing of hatching eggs

secondary to multipe other nutritional disorders and immunosuppressive disease

Omphalitis

yolk sac infection

Cellulitis

skin infection

Salpingitis

bacterial infection of fallopian tubes