The effect of infection with Arizona hinshawii on chicken embryos

The effect of Arizona hinshawii serotypes 7a, 7b: 1, 7 and 8 on embryonic mortality and hatchability of chicken eggs was studied after infecting eggs by inoculation or dipping before or at intervals during incubation. One hundred percent and 40-79% of the inoculated and dipped eggs respectively died during the incubation period. Embryonic mortality in the dipped groups was greater when egg exposure to the infection took place in the early (73-79%) than in the later stages (40-50%) of incubation. The hatch-ability rate varied from 0% to 21-70% in the inoculated and dipped groups of eggs respectively. The inoculated organisms could be reisolated from 90-100% of embryos that died following egg inoculation as well as from 33-100% of dead embryos and 25-100% of chicks hatched from dipped groups of eggs, a finding which demonstrates that the organism can penetrate to the inner structures of the egg.