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Volume 13 | Issue 2 Article 7

1951 Diseases of Poultry Transmissible to Man Oscar Felsenfeld Hektoen Institute for Medical Research

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Recommended Citation Felsenfeld, Oscar (1951) "Diseases of Poultry Transmissible to Man," Iowa State University Veterinarian: Vol. 13 : Iss. 2 , Article 7. Available at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/iowastate_veterinarian/vol13/iss2/7

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Iowa State University Veterinarian by an authorized editor of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Diseases of Poultry Transmissible to Man

DT. OscaT Felsenfeld

RANDLY (1) in his extensive study tularemia transferred from poultry to B listed the diseases transferred to man man. We had, however, the opportunity from poultry. From the epidemiologic of observing the following infections point of view, such infections may be which may be of interest to the veterin­ roughly divided into two groups: arian. (a) Diseases acquired by man through Ear ly in 1944, two employees of a shop handling live birds or living in the which dressed poultry became ill with vicinity of poultry raising estab­ conjunctivitis which did not yield to the lishments. usual medication. A bacteriologic consul­ (b) Infections transmitted from birds tation was called for. When the patients to man during preparation or con­ presented themselves for the collection of sumption of edible poultry prod­ specimens, a follicular, hypertrophic con­ ucts. junctivitis was observed in both of them. In addition, there was a shallow ulcera­ Poultry raisers may contract mycoses, tion with irregular edges on the left Newcastle disease and psittacosis-orni­ cornea of one patient. Since granulomat­ thosis. The mycoses are usually confined ous conjunctivitis and trachoma had to to the skin or mucous membranes, as be excluded, small biopsies were taken moniliasis and aspergillosis. Newcastle from the tarsal conjl1nctivas, in addition disease in man has been described only to bacteriologic cultures and scratch­ as a conjunctivitis The psittacosis-orni­ smears. The biopsies showed follicle-like thosis group of viruses usually causes accumulations of lymphocytes and mono­ long infections. Viral encephalitis of the cytes. Such a picture has been described equine, St. Louis and Japanese B types, is by Julianelle and Moore (2) and Gra­ accepted by most authorities in the field ham et al. (3). The cultures yielded typi­ as a disease propogated by mosquitoes cal Listeria monocytogenes. Since the di­ (especially Culex) from symptomless sease has been studied in Illinois by Gra­ fowl to man. ham and found in cattle, sheep and chick­ Persons handling infected poultry in ens, a search for the origin was carried a plant, shop or kitchen may acquire out by culturing samples from the spleens superficial mycoses, Newcastle disease, of the poultry dressed in the shop. Five tularemia, listeriasis and swine erysipelas. birds, originating from eastern Illinois, We have not encountered proven human where Graham found listeriasis in fowl, cases of mycoses, Newcastle disease or yielded positive cultures. Thus the prob­ * Ed. Note: Dr. Oscar Felsenfeld is Director of able source of the infection was estab­ Bacteriology at Hektoen Institute for Medical lished. Research of the Cook County Hospital in Chi­ cago. This article was presented, in part, at the While it is not believed that listeriasis 4th Conference of Public Health Veterinarians is a frequent disease in man, one may during the 78th Convention of the American Public Health Association in St. Louis, Mo. on suppose that more cases would be dis­ Oct. 30, 1950. covered if more attention would be paid

Issue 2, 1951 89 TABLE I Salmonellosis in Man -_.__ ._-- -- Salmonella type No. of outbreaks in the Chicago area* ------~~1~94~8~-1950 Former Years (10) S. typhimurimll ...... 101 = 34.2% 28.9% S. typhosa ...... 59 = 20 % 8.4-% S. montevideo ...... 31 = 10.5% 10.0% S. oranienburg ...... 20 = 6.70/, 6.3% S. newport ...... 17 = 5.1'/, 2.6% S. enteritidis ...... 10 3.4% 3.2% S. anatum ...... 9 = 3.0% 2.3% S. paratyphi B...... 7 = 2.4% 7.4% S. choleraesuis ...... 6 = 2.0% 4.20/< S. derby ...... 4 = 1.3% 4.7% S. thompson ...... 4 = 1.3% 0.5% S. bareilly ...... 3 = 1.0'1( 1:3% S. give ...... 3 = 1.0',~ 1.1% S. cubana ...... 3 = 1.0% o Together ...... ~86 * Only outbreaks observed by the author are listed. to other than meningitis forms of the While these infections are of much human disease. interest, the frequency of occurrence of Late in 1942, three members of a farm food-borne diseases transferred from family from southern Illinois were pre­ poultry to man is of far greater import­ sented for bacteriologic examination ance. These are chiefly represented by with the tentative diagnosis of pyogenic salmonellosis, brucellosis and coccal in­ infection of the hands. There was swell­ fections. ing and erythema of dark red color of According to Dr. P. R. Edwards (4) the hands, with smaller, lighter patches who did much work in the field of sal­ and lymphangitis to the elbow and axilla. monellosis, poultry constitutes the great­ Simultaneously pain and limitation of the est reservoir of salmonellosis in the movements in the phalangeal, carpometa­ United States. Hinshaw et al. (6), Ed­ carpal and wrist joints were observed. wards et al. (5) Bidwell and Kelly (7) The involvement of the articulations was and our group (8) showed that human much more extensive than one usually infections with Salmonella follow the_dis­ sees in pyogenic infections. Thus the tribution of Salmonella in poultry. _ The tentative diagnosis of erysipeloid of increasing consumption of poultry in the Rosenbach was made, confirmed by the kitchen reflects itself in a more frequent culture which yielded Erysipelothrix appearance of those types _of Salmonella rhusiopathiae. The infected family did not which predominate in birds. According to have contact with farm animals but Darby and Stafseth (9), Hinshaw et al. raised turkeys. Examination of birds from (6), Edwards et al. (5), a.o., the leading the turkey flock revealed the same organ­ infections in poultry are S. typhimurium, ism. S. pullorum, S. bareilly, S. oranienburg, Avian pasteurellosis is rare in man. We S. montevideo, S. newport and S. anatum. observed one fatal case of meningitis but Salmonella typhimurium and S. newport could not trace down its source. are, however, frequently present not only

TABLE II Examination of Poultry for Salmonella ------Poultry No. exam. No. postive Percent Salm. postive U.S. graded A and inspected, frozen, prior to 1950 type ...... 110 3 2.7 Grade A, not inspected ...... 70 8 11.8 Ready-to-cook, frozen, 1950 type ...... 50 4 8 Not graded, not inspected ...... 60 8 13.3

90 Iowa State College Veterinarian in birds but also in animals and in human with Salmonella, but harbor these organ­ carriers. The other strains of Salmonella isms more frequently, than the inspected distinctly predominate in birds. Of the products, prior to 1950, which were ex­ Salmonella types less common in man, amined on postmortem by a veterinarian. S. galZinarum and S. cubana may be Our results are, however, only prelimin­ pointed out as examples of purely poultry­ ary and the final outcome of the investi­ borne agents. Edwards and numerous gations may be different. Quite disturb­ other authors listed cases of human sal­ ing is the great number of S. typhimurium monellosis which were found to be caused strains (about 1 percent of the samples) by the consumption of infected poultry isolated from poultry put on the market meat or eggs. Our own epidemiologic without the benefit of inspection by a studies in North and South America (10) qualified veterinarian, under the name listed 13 human outbreaks in which the of "ready-to-cook" chicken. Plant sanita­ causative Salmonella could be recovered tion, still lagging behind recent legal re­ from fowl meat as well as nine human quirements, may contribute to this phe­ outbreaks in which the same Salmonella nomenon. was recovered from eggs and egg prod­ In our experience, Salmonellae survive. ucts and from the patients who ate them. for a long time in and on frozen food, To this we have to add one instance in Soloway and Calemick (14) and Stafseth which S. cubana was recovered from and his group carried out numerous ex­ frozen poultry and the family which con­ periments, especially with eggs, to deter­ sumed part of it; one more case of S. pul­ mine whether or not Salmonellae are de­ larum enteritis described by Morrow et al. stroyed by procedures used to prepare (11) from our institute; and one isolation food in the kitchen. There seems to be a of S. gallinarum from a human carrier good chance for these organisms to sur­ (12). Comparative tabulations published vive several ways of food preparation. by Kessel et al. (13), Edwards et al. (5), Since certain ways of preparation, such by us and by- numerous other writers as poaching, certainly do not kill Salmon­ confirmed that the distribution of salmon­ ellae, the eradication of poultry-borne ellosis in man in the United States runs human salmonellosis is still the problem parallel to a certain extent (with the ex­ of raising healthy birds and of proper ception of S. typhasa, S. pullorum and S. post-mortem inspection by a qualified vet­ choleraesuis) , to the distribution of Sal­ erinarian. monella in fowl. Our recent statistics, col­ Another human disease in which poultry lected during tile last two years, show a may play a role is brucellosis. Huddleson considerable decline in paratyphoid B in­ and co-workers showed that chickens can fections in man, a phenomenon observed be infected with brucellosis. Workers un­ also by Dr. Edwards. This reduces even der Dr. Brandly in Wisconsin proved the more the participation of Salmonella of existence of this disease in poultry. My non-poultry origin and leaves man, water, own experience in East Europe has been rodents and poultry as main harbingers that poultry carries brucellosis, often of human salmonellosis. without showing clinical symptoms. Re­ It remains the task of those who super­ cent experiments in this institute proved vise the health and the wholesomeness of that chickens fed with Brucella will ex­ poultry to proceed from here. Our group crete these organisms for a period up to carried out extensive surveys which 8 weeks in their stools and that unin­ showed that federally inspected poultry fected birds housed with Brucella-fed is carrying Salmonella less often than chickens will pick up the infection and products which were only graded or not carry it for several weeks. Since blood examined at all (8). Since the new in­ cultures frequently become positive dur­ spection and grading system went into ing such infections, chickens may serve effect in 1950, little work could be done not only as vectors of brucellosis on the by our group. It seems that frozen "ready­ farm but if slaughtered during the bac­ to-cook" chickens are less often infected teriemia, may provide meat that is in-

Issue 2, 1951 91 fected with Brucella. One has to wonder in fowls in the United States. Proc. World's if cases of brucellosis, appearing in per­ Poult. Congr., 271-274, 1939. 5. Edwards, P. R., Bruner, D. W. and Moran, sons who have no contact with animals A. B.: The genus Salmonella. Kentucky and do not drink raw milk, could not be Agricult. Expt. Sta. Bull. No. 525, 1948. traced sometimes to poultry. 6. Hinshaw, W. R., McNeil, E. and Taylor, T. J.: Avian salmonellosis. Am. J. Hyg., 40:264- Finally, we have to consider food 278,1944. poisoning caused by Staphylococci, Strep­ 7. Bidwell, M. H. and Kelly, C. B.: Duck and tococci and Enterococci. Since food poison­ shellfish sanitation. Am. J. Publ. Health, 40: 923-928, 1950. ing organisms of these types are fre­ 8. Felsenfeld, 0., Young, V. M. and Yoshimura, quently present in birds, especially in T.: A survey of Salmonella organisms in their digestive and respiratory apparatus, market meat, eggs and milk. J. Am. Vet. Med. Ass., 116:17-21, 1950. the contents of which are so easily 9. Derby, C. W. and Stafseth, H. J.: Salmonella smeared by the housewife or by an un­ infections common to man, animals and skilled or inadequately supervised food birds. Proc. 46th Ann. Meet. U. S. Live­ stock San. Assoc., 189-202, 1942. worker over the edible parts, one should 10. Felsenfeld, O. and Young, V. M.: Studies in pay more attention to inspection and sani­ salmonellosis in North and South America. tation in the preparation and handling of Am. J. Trop. Med., 29:483-491, 1949. poultry. Outbreaks of coccal food poison­ 11. Morrow, W. S., Lomberg, F. and Schroeder, W. F.: Salmonellosis. A case of human gas­ ing even if far less dangerous than sal­ tro-enteritis attributed to Salmonella pull­ monellosis, are too frequent for the com­ orum. Am. Pract., 1:969-970, 1950 . fort of public health workers, and meas­ 12. Young, V. M.: Salmonella types isolated from a mental hospital for children. Proc. ures aimed to reduce them are more than 44th Ann. Meet. Soc. Am. Bact., 29. welcome by all interested parties. 13. Kessel, J. F. Parrish, M. and Cavell, K.: Summarizing, one cannot overlook the Shigella and Salmonella encountered in Southern California. J. Bact., 49:522-523 importance of poultry in human disease. 1~. ' From the point of view of human medi­ 14. Soloway, M. and Calesnick, E. J.: Survival cine, the concentrated efforts of public of Salmonella in reconstructed egg powder health veterinarians and sanitary engi­ subjected to holding and scrambling. Food Res., 13:216-226, 1948. neers, together with the understanding of the poultry industry for betterment and progress, are most commendable. The most nearly correct rectal tem­ The paper of Dr. Paul Brand1y on perature in pigs is found approximately poultry inspection (1) enumerates all pit­ six inches anterior to the anus. The aver­ falls encountered in this work and is a age is somewhat over 102°F. The mini­ classic document in favor of inspection. mum may be as low as 97.2°F., with a The industry, on the other hand, has maximum of over 106°F. strong arguments against inspection by pointing out the shortage of veterinarians A loss of one pint of blood per adult and the costs of inspection. It is only sheep per day is the estimated result hoped that ways and means will be found of a fairly heavy stomach worm (Hae­ to establish a proper sanitation program monchus contortus) infection. on the chicken farms, as well as in the industry, connected with adequate in­ Foot-and-mouth disease is rare in man. spection on the eviscerating line. Smallpox vaccine contaminated with foot­ and-mouth disease virus did not infect References children vaccinated with it though cattle 1. Brandly, P. J.: Poultry inspection as part of were infected. the public health program. J. Am. Vet. Med. Ass., 112:10-17, 1948. Compulsory vaccination with live virus 2. Julianelle, L. A. and Moore, E.: Pathologic changes in Listerella infection, particularly vaccine of all poultry in areas infected of the eye. Am. J. Path., 18:813-825,1942. with Newcastle. That is the requirement 3. Graham, R., Levine, N. D. and Morrill, C.C.: in South Africa. We have used a live virus Listerellosis in domestic animals. U. of Ill. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. No. 499, 1943. Newcastle vaccine here, but it has not 4. Edward, P. R.: Incidence of Salmonella types been compulsory to vaccinate.

92 Iowa State College Veterinarian