Salmonellosis in chickens and roosters
Salmonellosis in chickens is quite common. This is the name of an infectious disease that affects all domestic animals, in particular, pigs, chickens and chickens that have recently been born. Such diseases occur periodically and cause damage to farms. Chicks that have been exposed to salmonellosis do not develop well. If salmonella virus is found in meat in adults, after eating raw eggs, a person can become infected with this disease.
Salmonellosis in chickens
Before you cook something from eggs, they must be washed and heat treated for at least 3-5 minutes. In the raw meat of a diseased chicken, the virus remains active.
The causative agent of the disease in the form of a bent stick was first isolated by American veterinarians Salmon and Smith from the organs of sick pigs: they named the causative agent of this disease paratyphoid, but later the stick was named after its discoverer.
Description of the virus
The great danger of infection is that infected animals pose a threat to humans. Basically, the infection affects the gastrointestinal tract, the intestinal virus attacks, which produces pathological changes and complex types of disorders.
Through the penetration of pathogens into the blood from poultry, there is often a threat of blood poisoning, or septicemia, with the release of pyogenic microorganisms and their waste products, toxins into the blood. As a side effect, the disease often gives complications in the form of pneumonia and arthritic joint damage. In order to better understand the extent of the disease, it is advisable to look at photos and videos showing diseased individuals and compare their images with real individuals.
Causative agent
The causative agent of the disease is the enterobacteriaceae Salmonella, which is subdivided into subgroups of enteric and bongori. One bacterium looks like a small curved match, which has sufficient mobility, does not produce spores and capsules, and belongs to the group that receives energy in an environment devoid of oxygen. Such bacteria hardly resist antiseptics, but they die from exposure to chemicals in an hour. Outside the body, Salmonella can be active for a long time.
- in the ground and heaps of manure can exist for up to 10 months;
- in the aquatic environment - up to 4;
- in dust particles of residential premises - up to 18 months;
- in smoked or salted meat of infected animals and birds - up to 3 months;
- frozen - up to 5 months.
When heat treated, the stick dies within 15 minutes.
Varieties of Salmonella bacteria
The well-known salmonella sticks are subdivided:
- Gallinarum is a pulorum, which is manifested in young chickens by gastrointestinal upset and symptoms of blood poisoning. The disease is acute, but if left untreated, it becomes chronic. The pathogen is transmitted to offspring and can infect humans through eggs that have not undergone heat treatment.
- Enteritidis affects young individuals and leads to the death of a fifth of the livestock. In sexually mature chickens, it passes almost without symptoms, but they remain carriers of the infection until the end of their lives.
Infection occurs through the use of contaminated water or feed: the bacillus first enters a part of the small intestine, then the large intestine. Then it moves through the lymphatic system through the bloodstream, causing it to become infected. This lesion is most common in the home on a farm. Under the influence of the bacillus, inflammatory processes begin in the intestines, liver and kidneys, which provoke hemorrhage and death of organ cells.
In more rare cases, internal bleeding affects the uterus, brain and joints of the bird. In parallel, the process of blood poisoning occurs, and the whole body is poisoned by toxins, dangerous poisons, which are secreted in the process of vital activity by the salmonella bacillus. Sometimes you can observe poisoning in broilers or chickens.
When a person is infected, it does not matter, children or adults, the presence of the virus should be determined, and if the diagnosis is confirmed, only a doctor should prescribe treatment.
Stages and symptoms of the disease
Salmonellosis is dangerous from the first days of infection. The latent period of infection in children, adults or chickens before the first symptoms can occur in a period of 7 days, when, for example, a bird became infected from food or water. If a bird is infected by air, signs of damage appear within a day. Depending on which organ (group of organs) is affected by salmonella, the type of disease is determined:
- Hyperacute is fatal to chicks that have just hatched: they die a few hours after birth.
- From the acute phase of the disease, chickens die up to 10 days of age. They move a little, refuse food, suffer from diarrhea and paralysis. This phase is reminiscent of chicken poisoning.
- The disease in a chronic form does not differ in pronounced symptoms. The disease manifests itself by decreased physical activity, indigestion and increased body temperature.
- When the disease affects the intestines, it can be detected by bloody droppings, which obscures the tail.
- In the articular form, the joints swell and make it difficult for the chicken to walk, its legs tremble. This form of the disease ends with paralysis and complete failure of the leg muscles and muscles of the wings.
- The defeat of the nervous system by the bacterium is rarely recorded, but it leads to complete paralysis of the bird, which lies in an unnatural position, it will no longer be possible to help it. Such an individual must be immediately isolated from the flock and killed.
Examination of a chicken carcass after death
Examination of carcasses that have died from Salmonella shows damage to numerous internal organs and articular joints. Even in meat, the virus can persist for some time. This can be detected only in the presence of a disease. In sexually mature chickens, yolk follicles are reborn, which are gradually filled with fluid. In the gallbladder itself, the mucous membrane turns red and swells significantly, it is filled with an unpleasant olive-colored liquid and a purulent odor.
Intestinal cells begin to die off in large quantities, and a large amount of fibrin appears, the clots of which become the basis for the formation of a blood clot. Fibrin is also fixed in the chest cavity, so a large number of various seals appear there. Also, the heart muscle is incredibly stretched, and the pericardial vessels are overflowing with blood.
Diagnosing the disease
In order to prescribe some drugs for treatment, a diagnosis is carried out. To do this, it is necessary to invite a veterinarian to take a general blood test from chickens, assess the situation, process the indications of symptoms and conduct research on the paratyphoid pathogen. The liver, spleen, kidneys and lungs, pancreas and thyroid glands are sent for laboratory research.There, the resulting cells are placed in a special environment for reproduction and the resulting bacterial colonies are examined.
Determine how resistant different types of bacteria are to different antibioticsto help your veterinarian find the most effective antibiotic to successfully eliminate Salmonella. Each drug is prescribed for each individual individually. The dose of the drug is prescribed based on the condition of the bird, the stage of the disease and its general well-being. It is not worthwhile to carry out antibiotic treatment or vaccinations on your own. All drugs and vaccines should be prescribed only by a veterinarian exclusively for each chicken separately.
Treatment
Treatment of salmonellosis in birds is effective only at the initial stage, it is treated with Kolmik-E antibiotics. Chickens with more severe symptoms are discarded and destroyed, since in this case the treatment is ineffective. Healthy chicken representatives are subjected to preventive treatment by adding drugs to feed and water, as well as disinfection of the chicken coop... In order to prevent the development of such a disease in the future, it is necessary to constantly observe the birds, and if the first signs of salmonellosis become obvious, it is necessary to start treatment as soon as possible.
A vaccine against the disease should be given at home. Only medications prescribed by the veterinarian can be administered. Most often, a doctor has an antitoxic, polyvalent serum in his arsenal. If it is noticeable that the chicken is so weak that it is not able to move, it is necessary to put it in a separate pen during the treatment so as not to spread the infection.
For prevention purposes:
- treat feed and water with antibiotics;
- install sanitary inspection rooms to prevent the introduction of infection into utility rooms;
- observe the hygiene of the nests and eggs that were loaded into the incubator;
- strictly comply with all norms and certain deadlines loading eggs into the incubator, utilizing by incineration the remains of hatching eggs;
- consistently disinfect the incubator;
- Newly hatched chicks are given probiotics at their first meal.
Fighting the manifestations of salmonella
Taking into account that often the symptoms of the disease are hidden, and the chickens after recovery remain carriers of salmonellosis for life, the flock should be examined more often in order to detect the disease in a timely manner, otherwise it may well be necessary to prevent the occurrence of a massive outbreak of the disease. It is necessary to observe the behavior and character of each individual. At the first stage of infection, the chicken's behavior and old habits can change, most often the individuals refuse to eat. Such symptoms may indicate and about other diseasesbut once suspicious behavior is discovered, continue bird watching and invite a veterinarian to make a diagnosis.
In the initial stage, the disease is easier and more effective to treat, but prevention should be carried out regularly. Often, blood should be taken from the livestock in order to test for salmonella contamination, and if the reaction is positive, immediately send the bird to slaughter and carry out a complete disinfection of the chicken coop. If the disease is detected in more than half of the livestock, all birds are destroyed.
A flock is considered successful if research shows positive results in no more than 10% of the inhabitants of the hen house.
Salmonella is a serious chicken disease that can lead to human infection. Prevention prevents Salmonella infection and is the reason why there are almost no epidemics in the flock, and when sick, the bird dies from internal bleeding, swelling of the joints and paralysis.