1. Pullorum Dis./ Salmonellosis-Pullorum Dis./ Bacillary White Diarrhea
Dr. Latif Ahmad-PhD,
Assistant Professor

2. Salmonellosis/PullorumDisease
Pullorum dis. is a highly contagious, egg- transmitted bacterial dis. It is mainly a blood inf. of chickens.
The dis. is characterized by white diarrhoea in young chicks.
Most common in young chicks. Older chickens can also get infected

3. Etiology
Salmonellosis or pullorum dis. is caused by a strain of salmonella called Salmonella pullorum.

4. Host Range
Chickens are natural hosts for both S. pullorum; however, naturally occurring outbreaks of PD have been described in turkeys, guinea fowl, quail, pheasants, sparrows & parrots. In addition, nat. occurring outbreaks of PD have been described in canaries & bullfinches (چھوٹی سخت چمکدار چونچ اور چمکدار پروں والی چِڑیا)
Pullorum dis. has been described as a nat. occurring or exp. inf. in mammals including chimpanzees, dogs, guinea pigs, pigs, mink, rabbits, kittens, chinchillas, foxes, swine, wild rats & cows,.

5. Transmission
Most imp. is vertical transmission by trans- ovarial route i.e., inf. hen’s eggs to chicks.
Direct horizontal transmission by contact with cl. affected & recovered carriers
Newly hatched inf. chicks spread inf. to other chicks in hatcheries via their heavily contaminated soft feathers
Affected chicks also shed S. pullorum through feces. This is major method of spread among chicks.
Indirect horizontal spread by contact with:
Contaminated equipment, housing, feed, water & litter
Attendants, visitors, feed dealers & chicken buyers moving from house to house & from farm to farm

6. Clincal Signs
Morbidity in affected batch often exceeds 40%
Depressed, tendency to huddle (crowd in small space), somnolence (sleepy)
Resp. distress, anorexia
White thick and sticky droppings adhering feathers around vent i.e., copious white diarrhoea.

7. Pullorum is mainly dis. of chicks seen at age of <3wks.
1st indication is usually numerous dead-in-shell chicks/deaths just post-hatch
Chicks breathe with difficulty & die soon.
Peak mortality usually during 2nd & 3rd wks, but varies greatly & in extreme cases 100%.

8. Mortality from pullorum dis
Mortality from pullorum dis. is usually confined to the first 2-3 weeks of age.

9. Edema of tibiotarsal joints
From 14d of age onwards affected birds show stunting, poor feathering & freq. lameness. Arthritis/ swollen joints with yellow fluid freq. seen
Edema of tibiotarsal joints
Older birds may appear depressed and have pale shrunken combs with ruffled feathers.

10. Low egg prod. may be only symptom of dis. when adult birds are affected. The condition, however, is rare in adult birds.

11. Postmortem Findings
Chicks show enlargement of the liver. Liver dark & swollen with surface hem. Lungs may be congested.
Chronic cases show abscessation of viscera (heart, internal serosa, lungs, liver). Distinct, small white, necrotic foci or white/ gray lumps are usually found in liver, lungs, heart, and gizzard wall.

12. Pullorum dis. in a chicken
Pullorum dis. in a chicken. Liver is enlarged, congested & shows small necrotic foci (minute white spots). Such necrotic foci are highly suggestive of pullorum dis.
Caeca are enlarged & distended with casts of hard, dry necrotic material. 

13. Greyish-whitish nodes in one/more of following places:
Ureters often filled with urates. 
Greyish-whitish nodes in one/more of following places:
Heart,
Lungs,
Liver,
Gizzard walls &
Intestines, the peritoneum.

14. Large abscesses in lungs of 12 days old chick affected with PD (most common feature of PD in chickens).
Labored breathing can be observed in affected flocks due to the extensive lesions in the lungs.

15. Nodular lesions can be observed in hearts of chicks affected with pullorum dis.

16. Multiple grey nodules in the heart.

17. Intestinal lesions of pullorum dis
Intestinal lesions of pullorum dis. are rare in chickens but are quite common in turkey poults. Accumulation of cecal cores in ceca

18. Intestinal lesions of pullorum disease are rare in chickens but are quite common in turkey poults.The lesions are characterized by ulceration and plaque like accumulation of necrotic tissue in the duodenum.

19. Chronic caseous typhlitis/grey casts in ceca of chicks that die after showing signs for I-2d.
Ceca have inflam.
Enlarged ceca with hard, dry, necrotic material.
Omphalitis is often present. Chicks may have an inflamed, unabsorbed yolk sac. In adult birds, the characteristic lesion is an abn. ovary.
Ova are irregular, cystic, deformed & pedunculated (attached) with prominent thickened stalks.
In some inf. adult hens, ovary is inactive, ova being small, pale and undeveloped.

20. Cheesy-plugs in ceca
Inflammation of the caeca.
Caeca are filled with gelatinous, fibrinous, cheese-like exudate. This is a finding, characteristic for salmonellosis,

21. Pullorum Disease: Ovarian follicle in various stages of degeneration

22. Diagnosis
I. Symptoms & PM findings may vary & are not quite characteristic to make firm Dx. Isolation & identification of S. pullorum from liver, lungs, intestine or yolk sac using appropriate enrichment culture & std. microbiological tech. are necessary to diagnose dis. in chicks. 2. Inf. In older birds/recovered birds can be detected by demonstrating S. pullorum abs. in blood samples by agglutination tes (rapid whole blood plate agglutination test).

24. Control
Test repeatedly blood of breeding flocks & remove reactors using rapid whole-blood plate agglutination test. Accomplish high management stds. & discip.
Strict biosecurity be enforced to prevent inf. from backyard flocks which serve as reservoirs. Rodent eradication is an imp. component of control.
Replacement birds must be purchased only from flocks known to be free of dis. (certified free of S. pullorum by a responsible Govt. agency).
Eggs from pullorum-free flocks be incubated & hatched only in hatcheries receiving eggs exclusively from clean flocks.

25. MCQs: Choose the MOST CORRECT or THE ONLY CORRECT answer for the following questions:
1. Mackonkey’s agar can be used for isolation of all of following bacteria EXCEPT:
E. coli
Salmonella
Bordetella avium
Pasteurella multocida
Pseudomona aeruginosa

26. 2. Which of following salmonella sp. is motile?
3. Which of following lesions is NOT ocassionally present in adult chickens chronically inf. with S. pullorum?
S. gallinorum
S. pullorum
S. arizonae
Abnormal ovarian follicles
S. gallinorum & S. pullorum
Peritonitis
S. arizonae & S. paratyphoid
Pericarditis
Consolidation of one or both lungs (pneumonia)
Nodules in myocardium

27. 4. Which of following lesions is most freq
4. Which of following lesions is most freq. seen in chicks affected with salmonellosis?
5. What is somatic antigen group of S. pullorum & S. gallinarum?
Group B
Yolk sac inf.
Group C
Panophthalmitis
Group D
YS inf. & pericarditis
Group E
Pericarditis, hem entiritis & arthritis
Bilateral fibrino- purulent pleuro- pneumonia & Panophthalmitis

28. 6. PM exam. of several pigeons revealed arthritis, peritonitis and small nodules in liver, spleen, heart, kidneys & serosal surface of intestine. Which of following condition should be on your list of rule-outs?
Trichomoniasis
Chronic chlymadiosis
Chronic aspergillosis
Chronic salmonellosis
Chronic staphlococcosis

29. 7. Sero-typing of salmonellae is based on differences in which antigen?
8. With which of following salmonellae, egg- shell penetration is least imp. method of transmission in chickens?
Somatic ag
Somatic ag & phase-1 flagellar ag
Paratyphoid salmonellae
Somatic ag & phase-2 flagellar ag
S. pullorum
phases-1 & 2 flagellar ags
S. gallinarum
Somatic ag & phase-1 & 2 flagellar ags
S. pullorum & S. gallinarum
S. gallinarum & paratyphoid salmonellae

30. 9. What is color of colonies of most isolates of salmonlellae on MacConkey agar medium, brilliant green agar medium & xylose lysine tergitol-4 agar (XLT4) medium?
black, colorless & pink, respectively.
10. Which of following salmonellae pair not host-specific?
S. pullorum & S. gallinarum
colorless, pink & black, respectively.
S. pullorum & S. arizonae
Pink, pink & black, respectively.
S. gallinarum & S. typhimurium
colorless, black & pink, respectively.
S. typhimurium & S. arizonae
Pink, pink & colorless, respectively.
S. gallinarum & S. arizonae

31. 11. Dead 7d old chicks were presented b/c of high mortality in flock
11. Dead 7d old chicks were presented b/c of high mortality in flock. PM exam. revealed diffuse hem. in cecal mucosa & in some birds, distension of ceca by white hard cores. Which condition would be 1st on your rule-outs?
Eimeria tenella
Histomoniasis
Salmonellosis
Necrotic enteritis
Colibacillosis

32. 12. For detection of S. pullorum inf
12. For detection of S. pullorum inf. in turkeys, it is acceptable to use all of following serological tests EXCEPT:
Std. tube agglutination test
Rapid serum plate agglutination test
Rapid whole blood test
Micro-agglutination test