Salmonellosis or Paratyphoid

[Buster121]

SALMONELLOSIS OR PARATYPHOID
Signs of the disease;
GUT PARATYPHOID
Salmonella confined to the gut can be regarded as a true carrier of the disease as the only symptoms are mild or chronic loose droppings. When the pigeon passes droppings the Salmonella is released to infect other birds. Salmonella droppings are described as being green, smelly, bubbly and loose. Youngsters born with infection from the egg or who pick it up within the first few days of life may die with acute watery diarrhoea since they are not old enough for their immune system to have had a chance to build up immunity to this disease.
Eggs that are produced by the cock and hen that have Salmonella or E.coli in the droppings can give a 'coating' fo Salmonella/E.coli to the eggs, the bacterium passes into the egg where it will multiply. This will kill the developing chick causing a 'dead in the egg shell' scenario.

SYSTEMIC PARATYPHOID
After the salmonella leaves the gut (if the bird is under stress) it enters the blood stream where it multiplies before moving to other sites eg joints and the brain.

JOINT PARATYPHOID
Salmonella circulating in the blood stream can settle into joints.This makes the joint painful (dropped wing syndrome) and results in the birds inability to fly.

NERVOUS PARATYPHOID
Salmonella circulating in the blood stream can be defined as 'septicaemia' symptoms include lack of balance, mis-pecking food, head twisting. These symptoms resemble paramyxo virus, however if you have vaccinated your birds you may discount PMV infection.

DISEASE PREVENTION
The effective control of Salmonellosis is by stopping the transfer of the disease and not allowing the organism to survive outside the host. First move is to identify the source of infection and eliminate this. The most common sources of Salmonella are ferel pigeons and rodents followed by ordinary pigeons. Next clean the loft twice daily, although the floor can look clean, it will not be bacterologically clean, Using Virkon S as a discinfectant is safe and effective. The blow torch is totally effective and if used thoroughly has the advantage of totally sterilising the lofts and surfaces of all microbes.

TREATMENT
Many antibiotics can be used eg Amoxycillin, Chlotetracycline, Furazolidone, Enrofloxacin. Enrofloxacin brand name BAYTRIL is a favourite as it enters the joints and the brain where Salmonella penetrate. Whichever drug is chosen, it is necessary to treat every bird in the loft for the recommended time period and to keep the loft very clean using discinfection daily. We also recommend YBS supplement before treatment as this will keep your birds stable and will help reduce deteriation, also use after to give the birds the added multivitamins and electrolytes to help build the birds back up to full strength.

Please contact our Meditech staff for help and advice as some medications we can only supply at the Pharmacy.

Call 0121 505 6370 or Email: [email protected]

[king]

Normally I just treat in late November with parastop or similar
But have being looking at other options

Neil without wanting to open a can of worms so to speak, how do you treat for something you don't have? Or do you mean a cleansing like fanciers used too or still do with baytril prior to vaccination for Paratyphoid?
I myself have never treated/vaccinated for Paratyphoid and have never contracted it.

[Steve Howells]

Having had Paratyphoid many years ago you'll know if you've got it in the flock. My birds got it late summer one year. One or two got it in their wing joints or legs a couple had it go into their brain, you can eliminate these ones so they're not the problem, it's the ones you think have stayed healthy are the danger. After treating them they all seemed fine, until next breeding season when the whole first round either died in the shell or died within a week of hatching. Having said that I no longer treat or vaccinate and won't do so unless there's a problem.

[Steve Howells]

Having had Paratyphoid many years ago you'll know if you've got it in the flock. My birds got it late summer one year. One or two got it in their wing joints or legs a couple had it go into their brain, you can eliminate these ones so they're not the problem, it's the ones you think have stayed healthy are the danger. After treating them they all seemed fine, until next breeding season when the whole first round either died in the shell or died within a week of hatching. Having said that I no longer treat or vaccinate and won't do so unless there's a problem.

Could fanciers have it in the mild form like you mention but not have any signs of serious outbreaks like you mention

Ultimately Neil you got to decide what you do in your loft. I'm no vet but I have experienced Paratyphoid, so my opinion, for what it's worth is you won't have Paratyphoid in your loft without any symptoms. Have you had any black eggs or youngsters dying in the nest? Are some of your birds having a poor moult? or are some going lame or can't fly? are the shits poor? If I saw any of those symptoms alarm bells would be ringing, but I wouldn't treat I'd send the droppings off to a lab to be tested, if it returned positive I'd then get a sensitivity test done to make sure I used the correct antibiotic. My belief is if you treat and there isn't a problem you might end up causing one. Salmonella bacteria are common in the environment treating might open the door to it.

Ps don't waste you money on those instant test kits they are defiantly a waste of money.

[king]

The first fancier in my club to vaccinate for Paratyphoid was told by a top fancier that vaccination was a must to succeed. He pre treated with Parastop and vaccinated. He to date is the only fancier I know of in my old club that actually GOT Paratyphoid. The same fancier years later vaccinated his YBs one year and had no end of problems with them.

[king]

The first fancier in my club to vaccinate for Paratyphoid was told by a top fancier that vaccination was a must to succeed. He pre treated with Parastop and vaccinated. He to date is the only fancier I know of in my old club that actually GOT Paratyphoid. The same fancier years later vaccinated his YBs one year and had no end of problems with them.

See I know a top level loft that blind treats for it but wouldn’t vaccinate for it

I myself can't see the point in that. You can't treat for something they haven't got. If I were treating for Paratyphoid, I'd want to know if they had it?
Blind treatment for worms, canker & coxi is ok, if not overdone. I couldn't treat for canker every couple of weeks like some do when racing.

My own birds are treated for canker (7 day course) 2 weeks before pairing. And that's it till next year. I do have various medications to hand just in case there is a problem (I'm just re-newing them as there all out of date unused)

[king]

Why blind treat for canker worms etc king ?

I don't Neil. But many do blind treat for worms, canker & coxi.

[Steve Howells]

Cheers Steve
Could they not be carrying it with no symptoms after a year mixing with god knows what

That's how mine ended up, but I had the outbreak first. Once they are carriers you start to see problems when they're under stress especially when breeding because the youngsters have no immunity. So if you've had no problems personally I think it unlikely you have it in the loft. For a few years I treated then vaccinated, as everyone said you had to treat first, then I ended up just vaccinating, no difference, haven't bothered to do either now for a few years, having said that I wouldn't hesitate to take action if I thought there was an issue. BTW Neil don't think I'm one of those fanciers who's against treating pigeons, or only uses natural products, the microscope is permanently out in the summer.