Spondylitis in turkeys associated with experimental Pasteurella anatipestifer infection

Nine previously vaccinated turkeys were inoculated intravenously with Pasteurella anatipestifer, and blood samples were taken periodically to evaluate the potential of chronically infected turkeys to serve as reservoirs of infection for blood-feeding arthropod vectors. Vertebral osteomyelitis (spondylitis), as yet unreported in the literature in association with infection with the organism, was found in the thoracic vertebrae of five out of nine inoculated turkeys, and P. anatipestifer was isolated from the thoracic vertebrae of three of the five. The organism was isolated from the peripheral blood of six turkeys 24 hours postinoculation and from the peripheral blood of one turkey 7 days postinoculation. The organism was also isolated from the heart blood of two birds at necropsy--from one at 21 days and, following an intramuscular injection of dexamethasone, from the other turkey at 38 days postinoculation.