This report details the first experimental production of clinical disease, mortality, and pathology resembling that of field infections by using Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale alone. Twenty-two-week-old male turkeys were exposed to O. rhinotracheale or lung homogenate from O. rhinotracheale-infected turkeys. Within 24 hr after inoculation, turkeys given O. rhinotracheale or lung homogenate intratracheally were depressed and coughing and had decreased feed intake. By 48 hr, several birds were coughing blood and ultimately died. Grossly, the lungs were reddened, wet, and heavy, failed to collapse, and were covered by tenacious tan-to-white exudate. Microscopically, the parabronchi and air capillaries were filled with fibrin, heterophils, macrophages, and small numbers of gram-negative bacteria. The pleura was often covered by a thick layer of fibrin, heterophils, and macrophages. Turkeys that survived to day 7 postinoculation had severe, subacute pneumonia. Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale was recovered from the lungs of most birds with pneumonia and was also cultured from the air sacs, sinuses, tracheas, spleens, and livers. All turkeys inoculated with O. rhinotracheale developed antibodies to O. rhinotracheale detectable by the serum plate agglutination test.

Increased death loss was seen in a flock of 22-wk-old tom turkeys. The predominant postmortem lesion was fibrinopurulent pneumonia and pleuritis. Within 5 wk, turkey flocks on 17 other farms developed similar problems. All affected flocks during the 5-wk period were between 14 and 22 wk of age, and the severity of clinical signs and the degree of mortality increased with age. Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale was isolated in pure culture from affected lungs. Further investigation by tracheal swab culture of 261 flocks between 5 and 7 wk of age resulted in detection of O. rhinotracheale in 43% of the flocks.

Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale is a gram-negative, rod-shaped, pleomorphic bacterium that has been isolated from flocks of turkeys and broilers from around the world. Infections cause respiratory disease, mortality, and growth suppression, or clinical signs of infection may be absent. In layers, there have been few reports of disease caused by O. rhinotracheale. This is the first report of O. rhinotracheale infection in United States layer flocks.

Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale has been shown to cause serious clinical illness and is a significant concern to the turkey industry because of its potential economic impact. In this study, 6-wk-old turkeys were vaccinated intranasally with a live or subcutaneously with a killed O. rhinotracheale vaccine. At 14 or 21 wk of age, the birds were challenged intratracheally with live O. rhinotracheale. Airsacculitis and pneumonia occurred less frequently in vaccinated birds than in unvaccinated birds after challenge with O. rhinotracheale. Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale was recovered from unvaccinated, challenged birds but not from vaccinated, challenged or from unchallenged birds. Thus, turkeys inoculated with live or killed O. rhinotracheale vaccine were protected from pathologic changes.