Experimental infection of laying hens withSerpulina intermediacauses reduced egg production and increased faecal water content

Abstract

Serpulina intermedia strain HB60, isolated from an Australian hen with diarrhoea, was used to infect 10 individually caged 14-week-old laying hens. Another 10 birds were sham inoculated with sterile broth. Birds were kept for 16 weeks, and faecal water content, egg production and body weights recorded. Strain HB60 was isolated from the faeces of nine of the infected birds at irregular intervals throughout the experim ent, and from their caeca at slaughter. Infected birds tended to be lighter and their faeces, on average, were signi® cantly wetter (by 2.85% ; P , 0.002 ) than those of the controls. Signi® cant reductions in m ean num ber of eggs laid (1.4/week; P , 0.002 ) and m ean egg weights (1.16 g; P , 0.05) were recorded in infected birds. Coloniza tion did not induce any characteristic patholo gical changes. S. intermedia is potentially an econom ically signi® cant cause of reduced egg production, and wet faeces in layer and broiler breeder¯ocks.

Experimental infection of broiler breeder hens with the intestinal spirochaete Brachyspira ( Serpulina ) pilosicoli causes reduced egg production

“…In Australia, experimental infection of layer hens with an Australian chicken isolate of B. intermedia resulted in prolonged caecal colonization, increased faecal moisture content and reduced egg production (Hampson & McLaren, 1999). In contrast to the situation with B. intermedia, there have been no reports of studies using either B. pilosicoli or B. innocens to experimentally infect adult birds.…”

Antimicrobial susceptibility ofBrachyspiraspp. isolated from commercial laying hens and free-living wild mallards (Anas platyrhynchos)

“…pigs, dogs, rodents and humans) and in domestic and freeliving wild birds, especially gallinaceous and anseriform species. In chickens, a wide range of potentially pathogenic and commensal species may be found, including Brachyspira alvinipulli, Brachyspira intermedia and Brachyspira pilosicoli that have been linked to diarrhoea, wet litter, faecal staining of egg shells and impaired laying performance in adult chickens (Stanton et al, 1998;Hampson & McLaren, 1999;Stephens & Hampson, 2002). Among the remaining recognized and proposed species found in chickens, Brachyspira murdochii, Brachyspira innocens and ''Brachyspira pulli'' are presumed non-pathogenic species, and the swine dysentery agent Brachyspira hyodysenteriae, although an unusual finding in chickens (Feberwee et al, 2008), has not yet been linked to disease.…”

Brachyspira intermedia and Brachyspira pilosicoli Are Commonly Found in Older Laying Flocks in Pennsylvania

“…Of these, B. intermedia and B. pilosicoli are the species that have been most commonly identified in epidemiological surveys of layer flocks in Europe and in Australia (1,7,23). Experimental infections with these two species have resulted in cecal colonization, with wet manure and/or reduced egg production (4,9,25 (11,24). Most frequently this condition has been reported in laying hens, but it also occurs in broiler breeders and in other poultry including turkeys (20) and geese (16).…”