The Effect of Antibacterials on Experimentally Induced Salmonella Typhimurium Infection in Chickens

Abstract

Chickens raised on wire floors were infected experimentally at 4 days of age with 8 × 1010 cells of Salmonella typhimurium. Twenty four hours post-inoculation, infected chickens were treated with one of the following therapeutic substances—oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline, sulphadimidine, furaltadone, neomycin, furazolidone, chloramphenicl and ampicillin. Cloacal swabs were taken daily from each bird and cultured for Salmonella prior to autopsy examination on the 7th day when the visceral organs were subjected to bacteriological examination. Persistence of infection, mortality and average percent weight gains were correlated with the in vivo efficiency of the therapeutic substances. The results showed that chloramphenicol and furaltadone were the most efficient antibacterials for control of an experimental S. typhimurium infection in young chickens.