Pullorum Disease of Fowl.

 

Introduction

Pullorum disease is an important bacterial disease of fowl, caused by Salmonella pullinarum. The disease is most commonly spread by true egg transmission. While all avian can be infected with Salmonella pullinarum, reports of clinical disease in species other than chickens, turkeys and pheasants are rare. It usually occurs in an acute systemic form in chicks and poults but in adults is most often localized and chronic. 

Pullorum disease is seen predominantly in chicks under 3 weeks of age and the first indication is usually excessive numbers of dead in shell chicks and deaths shortly after hatching.

Clinical Findings

• Acutely affected birds show depression, respiratory distress, anorexia, white viscous dropping "diarrhoea" that adhere to the feathers around the vent, finally dehydration and death up to 100%.

• A sub-acute form with lameness and swollen hock joint may be seen in grown birds and result in poor growth rates.

• Chronic carrier birds may appear listlessness and have pale and shrunken combs and reduction of egg production, fertility and hatchability.

Diagnosis

• A presumptive diagnosis can be made on history and clinical signs in different age groups of birds and characteristic necropsy lesions like necrotic foci in liver and discolored cystic ova.

•  A definitive diagnosis can bd made by isolation and indentification of the causative organism.

•  The rapid slide agglutination test on whole blood using a stained antigen and a tube agglutination test carried out on serum to detect the specific antibodies.

Treatment

Followings are the most effective antibacterial drugs which will reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by "Pullorum Disease" in fowls.

1. Sulphonamides (Sulphamerazine) 0.5% in feed for 5 days. these drugs suppress growth, interfere with feed and water intake, reduction of egg production and short range economic merit.  

2. Nitrofurans (Furazolidon) 0.04% in feed for 10-14 days but it interferes with antibody production.

3. Antibiotics (Chloramphenicol) 0.5% in feed for 10 days of chlortetracycline 200 mg/kg in ration for 10 days.

Remark

• No tretment is likely to effect the complete elimination of carriers from an infected flock.

• In most cases treatment should not be recommended and control should be by repeated blood testing and elimination of rector birds.

• In the event of disease, the owner should be adviced to slaughter the infected whole flock and restock on new ground with clean, tested, pullorum disease free flocks.