ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF ORNITHOBACTERIUM-RHINOTRACHEALE FROM COMMERCIAL TURKEY FLOCKS IN THE UPPER MIDWEST

Increased death loss was seen in a flock of 22-wk-old tom turkeys. The predominant postmortem lesion was fibrinopurulent pneumonia and pleur itis. Within 5 wk, turkey flocks on 17 other farms developed similar p roblems. All affected flocks during the 5-wk period were between 14 an d 22 wk of age, and the severity of clinical signs and the degree of m ortality increased with age. Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale was isola ted in pure culture from affected lungs. Further investigation by trac heal swab culture of 261 flocks between 5 and 7 wk of age resulted in detection of O. rhinotracheale in 43% of the flocks.