Fatal Salmonellosis in Captive Maras (Dolichotis patagonum) Caused by Salmonella Enteritidis

We report epidemic occurrences of fatal salmonellosis caused by Salmonella Enteritidis in captive maras (Dolichotis patagonum) in a zoological garden in Japan. The deaths were sudden or followed a peracute course within a few hours of the first observations of clinical abnormalities. Gross lesions included haemorrhages in the subcutis and skeletal muscles, liver, spleen, lung, heart and gastrointestinal tract. Microscopically, there were haemorrhagic and necrotizing lesions with gram-negative bacilli in the liver, spleen, small intestine and Peyer's patches. These bacilli showed strong immunolabelling for Salmonella O9 antigen and S. Enteritidis was isolated from the lesions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of salmonellosis in maras.