Growth of Salmonella typhimurium and Salmonella enteritidis in egg yolks from highly immunized hens

This experiment was conducted to ascertain whether the growth of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) or Salmonella Typhimurium (ST) would be suppressed in the presence of antibodies contained in egg yolks. Specific pathogen-free chic kens (102 days of age) were subcutaneously immunized with oil-adjuvanted ba cterin of SE or ST, twice within a four-week interval. During 160 to 170 da ys of age, eggs were collected, the yolks were removed and mixed with an eq ual volume of physiological buffered saline, inoculated with ten colony for ming units (CFU) of SE or ST, and incubated at 37 degrees C or 20 degrees C for 23 hr. The growth of organisms in each yolk solution was examined. The egg yolk derived from non-immunized hens was examined in the same manner-a s the controls. There was no difference in the growth titer between the ant ibody-positive yolk and the negative yolk. The result suggests that the ant ibodies in the yolk do not influence the growth of each organism, even if t he hens are highly immunized.