Temporal changes in the population genetics of Salmonella pullorum

Salmonella pullorum is the cause of pullorum disease, which is characterized by white diarrhea and a high mortality rate in poultry. During the 1990s, the serologic "pullorum" test has occasionally failed to detect infected birds during the early stage of disease. To determine if any recent genetic changes have taken place in S. pullorum to account for poor seroconversion sometimes observed in infected flocks, S. pullorum from 1930s outbreaks and strains isolated prior to the 1980s were typed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD). Of 40 S. pullorum isolates typed by this method, eight distinct DNA patterns were identified with one of three RAPD polymerase chain reaction primers. Sixty-two percent of S. pullorum isolates shared the same RAPD DNA pattern, and a major proportion of these strains were from recent flock infections. The RAPD patterns for S. pullorum were clearly distinct from the avian Salmonella group B isolates included in this analysis. The distribution of Salmonella virulence genes among avian Salmonella isolates was also examined. Eighty-five percent of the S. pullorum isolates had both the virulence plasmid gene, spvB, and the invasion gene, invA, with the same percentage positive for the Salmonella enteriditis fimbrial gene, sef: However, significant variability was observed among S. pullorum in their ability to invade avian epithelial cells, despite the presence of the Salmonella invasion gene in these isolates.