Body temperature response of turkey poults infected withAlcaligenes faecalis1

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to investigate the colonic temperature (TC) response to Alcaligenes faecalis infection in turkeys. One-day-old poults were inoculated intranasally with 0.05 ml of a 24 hour brain heart infusion (BHI) broth culture with a bacterial concentration of 1.0 x 10(9) cells/ml. Within 2 hours after inoculation TC was depressed significantly in challenged poults. This depression was significant through day 14 in experiment 1 and day 6 in experiment 2. Further studies with sterile BHI broth, BHI broth culture supernatant and phenol killed bacteria indicated that TC depression occurred only with the killed bacteria. This TC depression with killed bacteria lasted 3 days. Foot pad temperature (TF), an indicator of peripheral vasomotor tone, was depressed through day 9 in A. faecalis-infected poults. The reduced TC and TF of infected poults is highly suggestive of a reaction to an endotoxin in young birds. The mechanisms whereby A. faecalis allows poults to become more susceptible to other infective agents may reside in physiological changes leading to reduced body temperature.