Salmonella pullorum in the common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)

In 1996, pullorum disease due to Salmonella enterica serovar Gallinarum biovar pullorum (Salmonella pullorum) was diagnosed in pheasants on a gamebird rearing enterprise in south-west Scotland. The gross pathology and bacteriological findings are described, as are the results of screening for S pullorum on the site in 1997. The causal organism was readily isolated from the lung, liver, yolk sac and heart blood on direct culture, but less readily from the digestive tract or by the use of selective media. The bacteria recovered from the pheasants were identified as S pullorum phage type 7, a phage type previously associated with pheasants rather than domestic fowl, and the organisms were most probably introduced to the site by the movement of carrier pheasants.