The History of Avian Medicine in the U.S. III. Salmonellosis

Abstract

Salmonellosis (paratyphoid) was widely recognized as a disease of economic importance in miscellaneous birds in the second and third decades of this century. Not until the middle of the century, however, did it begin to come under thorough review. This came about largely through increased awareness that disease in man had a relation to infection in poultry. Contributing also was extensive work on salmonella typing beginning in the early 1930's at the University of Kentucky under the leadership of Dr. Philip R. Edwards. Salmonellosis in fowl is interpreted as involvement with salmonellae other than those causing pullorum disease and fowl typhoid. It became manifest early that salmonella infection was widespread in birds and mammals, including man. The disease was first reported in the United States in pigeons in 1895, in ducks in 1920, in chickens the following year, and in turkeys in 1933. That the disease was prevalent also in canaries and other birds in pet stores is evidenced by reports from New Jersey in 1926 and from Michigan in 1929. The European literature of that period contained many references to Salmonella aertrycke in digestive disturbances of man from ingestion of infected duck and pigeon eggs. With salmonella being ubiquitous and so many new types being continually recognized, understanding of these infections did not develop in the orderly fashion that characterized pullorum disease. By the early 1940's, about 60 serological types of salmonellae had been recognized, including 35 isolated from fowl. In 1972, Dr. J. E. Williams of the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory of the USDA listed 127 serotypes from chickens and turkeys. More than 800 serotypes had been identified at that time. By 1976 about 1700 known salmonella serotypes had been reported. Of these, 153 have been reported in the United States from chickens and turkeys. Host specificity is not a common trait, and various species and serotypes have been found as common pathogens in many species of birds, domestic and wild animals, man, and reptiles. It