Synonyms

Salmonella diarrhea

Name of the disease in English

Bovine Salmonella acute enteritis

The disease in brief

The disease is important because acute and collective cases are responsible for significant mortality, but also because the risk of human transmission is very high: this risk is high in severe cases (with Salmonella Typhimurium most often) and the priority is to keep the most fragile people, such as the elderly and children, out of the herd. For staff, hygiene measures, such as hand cleaning and disinfection, should be reinforced. It is also advisable to stop the production based on raw milk.

There are many serotypes of Salmonella likely to infect cattle of all ages; the sources of infection are numerous: contaminated water, concentrated feed, spreading manure and slurry from all livestock species, infected premises or pastures, rodent excrement. Infection with serotypes of Salmonella most often remains unnoticed, in a subclinical state, infected cattle being able to remain carriers and disseminators of the bacterium; some serotypes are more pathogenic in cattle and lead to disease more regularly, such as Salmonella Typhimurium which is responsible for the majority of serious and collective cases. 

Salmonella can also cause abortions (especially Salmonella Dublin), but more often than not the two forms do not coexist in sick herds.

Other clinical forms can be due to salmonella: arthritis, meningitis, bronchopneumonia ...

Clinic & diagnosis

The disease can be suspected with different clinical pictures:

- Diarrhea (painful) containing false membranes (fibrinonecrotic), or sometimes hemorrhagic, or serous diarrhea like cider

- Diarrhea rapidly progressing to death (especially in young people)

- Collective diarrhea causing fever.

Typical sign of the disease

No description

Pictures

See below

Diagnostic formulas

No description

Differential diagnosis

- Winter hemorrhagic enteritis DG41

- Acute BVD in ruminant DG44.4

- Acute Mucosal Disease-DG44.5

- Dietary diarrhea due to excess nitrogen or sudden transition DG42

- Diarrhea Clostridium N323

- Other calf diarrhea

- Paratuberculosis

Confirm a suspicion?

Confirmation must be implemented systematically as soon as a hygienic risk is present. Collect stools in a sterile vial, avoiding if possible excessively modified excreta (serous stool); a bacteriological analysis makes it possible to isolate the bacteria in 24-48 hours in order to guide the actions of control in the breeding.

Prognosis and treatment

The prognosis is very variable, but the isolation of a salmonella should always encourage caution. The processing is based on:

- the use of antibiotics regularly active against these bacteria (colistin) or by referring to the result of an antibiogram.

- oral administration of gastrointestinal dressings based on kaolin, pectin, aluminum salicylate, smectite.

- Rehydration by venous route as soon as an enophthalmia is present.

- anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve the animal.

Prevention

It is not easy to keep your herd safe from this infection with certainty, especially in areas with high animal density which increase the risk of contamination. However, some basic precautions can be implemented: See HYDG-2

References

Adjou K., Belbis G., Millemann Y., Ravary-Plumioën B. - Cours National Veterinary School of Alfort-2016-238p.