Salmonellosis in calves — the effect of dose rate and other factors on transmission

Abstract

Extract Salmonella infections in domestic animals in New Zealand have been reported by Josland ( 1950 Anderson, E. S. , Galbraith, N. S. and Taylor, C. E. D. 1961. Lancet, 1(7182): 854–854. [Google Scholar] ) and Salisbury ( 1958 Fey, H. , Lanz, E. , Margadant, A. and Nicolet, J. 1962. Dtsch tierärztl. Wschr., 69: 581–581. [Google Scholar] ), while Nottingham ( 1961 Jamieson, J. E. 1962. J. Hyg. (Camb.), 60: 193–193. [Google Scholar] ) has drawn attention to the high incidence of Salmonella in animals slaughtered at meat works. The latter found Salmonella in 15% of dairy cattle, 4% of beef cattle, 15% of sheep, and 13% of calves. If these figures reflect the true incidence of Salmonella in domestic animals in New Zealand, it is surprising that outbreaks of salmonellosis are not diagnosed more often in the field. In fact, the number of isolations of Salmonella from material submitted to Wallaceville Animal Research Centre for confirmation of a diagnosis of salmonellosis was only 158, or 3.9% of 3,978 cases examined over a period of eight years. These figures suggest that the incidence of Salmonella in the field may not be nearly as high as that found by Nottingham for stock slaughtered at the works.