Studies on the presence and persistence of Pasteurella multocida serovars and genotypes in fowl cholera outbreaks

Abstract

Pasteurella multocida was isolated from poultry on six farms (one free-range duck farm, one free-range turkey farm, one conventional enclosed turkey farm, and three free-range layer farms) suffering fowl cholera outbreaks. In addition, historical isolates from previous outbreaks were available for the conventional turkey farm and the three free-range layer farms. The isolates were serotyped using the Heddleston scheme and genotyped using multi-locus sequencing typing. In the current outbreaks, two of the farms had two different sequence types (STs) of P. multocida in the investigated outbreak (the free-range turkey farm and one of the free-range layer farms). The remaining four farms had one ST within the investigated outbreak. In looking at the historical isolates, two of the four farms had multiple genotypes involved. On the four farms with historical isolates from previous outbreaks, at least one new genotype was present in the investigated outbreak as compared with the historical isolates. On one layer farm, one genotype persisted over a 10-year period. Serotyping revealed the presence of multiple serovars in the current and historical outbreaks, with serovars sometimes changing over time. This study has shown that several STs of P. multocida can be present during some outbreaks of fowl cholera, although other outbreaks involve a single ST. Also, the STs present on a property suffering repeated fowl cholera can both persist and change over time.