Embryonic and neonatal mortality from salmonellosis in captive bred raptors

In a captive breeding center near Rome (Italy), cases of embryonic and neonatal death were recorded during the breeding seasons in the European eagle owl (Bubo bubo), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), buzzard (Buteo buteo), and lanner falcon (Falco biarmicus). Salmonella havana and S. virchow were isolated. Three pulli, clinically infected with S. havana, were successfully treated with enrofloxacin. From two groups of healthy 3- to 4-wk-old eagle owls, Salmonella sp. group 61 (61:r:-) and S. havana were collected. A strain of S. paratyphi B was detected in a pharyngeal swab and a fecal sample from an adult female goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), affected with pharyngeal trichomoniasis. A S. hadar strain was collected from a healthy 1-yr-old female eagle owl and S. livingstone was isolated from a 1-mo-old female peregrine, dead of an acute respiratory syndrome. Lesions of fibrinous polyserositis and multivisceral congestion were observed. From frozen 1-day-old chicks, on which adult and young raptors were fed, S. havana and S. livingstone isolates with similar biochemical and drug susceptibility patterns to those isolated from raptors were identified. A surveillance program on infectious diseases reduced embryonic and neonatal death rates in the following breeding seasons.