pullorum disease

pullorum disease

(pə-lôr′əm)

n.

A contagious, often fatal diarrheal disease of young poultry, caused by salmonella bacteria and usually transmitted by infected hens through their eggs.

The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

pullorum disease

A fowl infection by Salmonella pullorum, with a nearly 100% mortality.

Epidemiology
Domestic or wild poultry (chickens, turkey, guinea fowl, quail, pheasants), as well as sparrows, parrots, canaries and bullfinches. Transmission to mammals is a case report rarity and is primarily vertical (i.e., through the egg), but can occur by direct or indirect contact with infected birds.

Clinical findings
Affected birds huddle near a heat source, are anorectic, appear weak, and have whitish faecal pasting around the vent (diarrhoea).

DiffDx
Fowl typhoid.

Prognosis
Survivors often become asymptomatic carriers with localised infection of the ovary; eggs laid by such hens may hatch and produce infected progeny.

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