Salmonella ochiogu: experimental infection of laboratory rats (Rattus rattus)

Oral infection of experimental rats with 10(8) colony forming units of Salmonella ochiogu resulted in clinical salmonellosis in 42 of 98 (43%) rats and a carrier state in 56 of 98 (57%). Infection was characterized by septicaemia, pneumonia and loss of condition. Organisms were shed in faeces on the first day after infection and cultures of most visceral organs revealed good systemic dissemination of the serotype, which was pathogenic to experimental rats.