EMBRYONIC AND NEONATAL-MORTALITY FROM SALMONELLOSIS IN CAPTIVE BRED RAPTORS

In a captive breeding center near Rome (Italy), cases of embryonic and neonatal death were recorded during the breeding seasons in the Europ ean eagle owl (Bubo bubo), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), buzzar d (Buteo buteo), and lanner falcon (Falco biarmicus). Salmonella havan a and S. virchow were isolated. Three pulli, clinically infected with S. havana, were successfully treated with enrofloxacin. From two group s of healthy 3- to 4-wk-old eagle owls, Salmonella sp. group 61 (61:r: -) and S. havana were collected. A strain of S. paratyphi B was detect ed in a pharyngeal swab and a fecal sample from an adult female goshaw k (Accipiter gentilis), affected with pharyngeal trichomoniasis. A S. hadar strain was collected from a healthy 1-yr-old female eagle owl an d S. livingstone was isolated from a 1-mo-old female peregrine, dead o f an acute respiratory syndrome. Lesions of fibrinous polyserositis an d multivisceral congestion were observed. From frozen 1-day-old chicks , on which adult and young raptors were fed, S. havana and S. livingst one isolates with similar biochemical and drug susceptibility patterns to those isolated from raptors were identified. A surveillance progra m on infectious diseases reduced embryonic and neonatal death rates in the following breeding seasons.