Salmonellosis
Introduction
Salmonellosis is an infectious disease of humans and animals caused by the organisms of the two species of Salmonella (Salmonella enterica and Salmonella bongori). The presence of Salmonellosis has been identified in countries throughout the world but appears to be most prevalent in areas of intensive animal husbandry, especially occurring in pigs and calves and some types of poultry. The disease can affect all domestic animals; however young animals, pregnant and lactating animals are the most susceptible to the disease. The clinical signs that may be seen are abortion, arthritis, respiratory disease and acute septicemia. Enteric disease, often presenting as a bloody, watery diarrhoea with pyrexia, is the most common clinical manifestation.
Many animals, especially pigs, cattle and poultry, may also be infected but show no clinical illness. Such animals may be important in relation to the spread of infection between flocks and herds and also as a source of food contamination and human infections.
Human health risk
Salmonellosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases that can cause serious clinical symptoms in humans. Pigs, cattle, poultry and eggs have been recognized as important sources of these Salmonella infections.
The existence of this disease presents great risks for human health. Salmonella infections of animals intended for the food industry play an important role in public health as these animals are considered to be the major source of human Salmonella infections.
Economic impact
Because of the risk of human infection, the meat production industry can be particularly negatively affected when a Salmonella infection occurs. Surveillance and diagnosis of infected pig and cattle herds can be easily achieved by testing for Salmonella antibodies in serum or meat juice.
Diagnostic solution
Prionics offers effective tools for the diagnosis of Salmonella in pigs and cattle. The PrioCHECK® Salmonella Ab tests were developed in collaboration with the distinguished Danish Veterinary Institute for Virus Research. The Danish tests are often used as the gold standard for the development of other Salmonella ELISAs (van der Heijden, 2001).
Internal validations showed an exact correlation of PrioCHECK® Salmonella ELISAs with the in-house tests of the Danish Veterinary Institute.
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