ARS | Publication request: Production of Internally Contaminated Eggs by Laying Hens Infected Experimentally with Salmonella Heidelberg

Submitted to: American Veterinary Medical Association Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: June 30, 2004
Publication Date: July 28, 2004
Citation: Gast, R.K., Holt, P.S., Bouldin, J.G. 2004. Production Of Internally Contaminated Eggs By Laying Hens Infected Experimentally With Salmonella Heidelberg. American Veterinary Medical Association Abstract, P.38, 2004.

Technical Abstract: Internal contamination of eggs laid by hens infected with Salmonella enteritidis has been a leading international public health concern since the mid 1980's. Considerable resources have been committed to detecting and controlling S. enteritidis infections in commercial laying flocks. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported the association of eggs or egg-containing foods with several human S. heidelberg outbreaks. The present study determined whether S. heidelberg isolates obtained from these egg-associated human outbreaks could be deposited inside eggs laid by experimentally infected hens. Groups of laying hens were orally inoculated with large doses of four S. heidelberg strains and an S. enteritidis strain that caused egg contamination in prior studies. All five Salmonella strains colonized the intestinal tracts and invaded to reach the livers, spleens, ovaries, and oviducts of inoculated hens. All four S. heidelberg strains were also recovered from the interior liquid contents of eggs laid by infected hens, although at lower frequencies than the S. enteritidis strain.