Acute septicemia caused by streptococcus gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus in Turkey Poults

Dona Saumya, S. Wijetunge, Patricia Dunn, Eva Wallner-Pendleton, Valerie Lintner, Tammy Matthews, Traci Pierre, Subhashinie Kariyawasam

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Streptococcus gallolyticus, previously known as Streptococcus bovis biotypes I and II/2, is a well-known cause of sepsis and meningitis in humans and birds. The present case report describes an outbreak of fatal septicemia associated with S. gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus (S. bovis biotype II/2) in 11 turkey flocks in Pennsylvania between 2010 and 2013. Affected poults were 2-3 wk of age. Major clinical observation was sudden increase in mortality among turkey poults without any premonitory clinical signs. Postmortem examination findings revealed acute septicemia with lesions such as fibrinous pericarditis, meningitis, splenic multifocal fibrinoid necrosis, hepatitis, osteochondritis, myositis, and airsacculitis. Gram-positive cocci were isolated from several organs by routine bacterial culture. Biotyping identified bacteria as streptococci, whereas 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing identified them as S. gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus. Antibiotic susceptibility profiles revealed that all the strains isolated were sensitive to penicillin and erythromycin with different sensitivity profiles for other antibacterial agents tested. The present study reports the first confirmed case of acute septicemia in turkey poults caused by S. gallolyticus subsp. pasteurianus.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)318-322
Number of pages5
JournalAvian diseases
Volume58
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2014

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Food Animals
  • Animal Science and Zoology
  • General Immunology and Microbiology

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