Observations on the involvement of wildlife in an epornitic of chlamydiosis in domestic turkeys.

Abstract

In an investigation of potential wildlife reservoirs of Chlamydia psittaci at the site of an acute, highly fatal epornitic of chlamydiosis in domestic turkeys in Texas, various species of wild birds and rodents were captured and tested for chlamydial serum antibodies and chlamydiae in their tissues. Thirteen (65%) of 20 blackbirds (Agelaius sp), 4 (44%) of 9 killdeer (Oxyechus vociferus), 3 (27%) of 11 sparrows (Passer sp) and 1 of 4 mourning doves (Zenaidura macroura) were seropositive, but chlamydiae were not isolated from their tissues. Two of 3 rats (2 cotton rats, Sigmodon hispidus, and 1 roof cat, Rattus rattus) were seropositive, but 7 gophers (Citellus sp), 1 ground squirrel (Tamias sp), an opossum (Didelphis virginiana), and a domestic cat (Felis domesticus) were seronegative; however, chlamydiae were recovered from the livers and spleens of the opossum and domestic cat, both of which had been observed scavenging carcasses of turkeys dead of chlamydiosis. Cultures of these isolants were inoculated experimentally into turkeys and produced lesions of chlamydiosis that were indistinguishable from those caused by the strain originally recovered from diseases turkeys on the premises. Nine of 50 domestic goats quartered near the diseased turkeys were tested, and all were seropositive.