Salmonella in the mesenteric lymph nodes of healthy sows and hogs

Mesenteric lymph nodes were collected from healthy sow and slaughter hogs that had been kept in holding pens for an average of 10 and 2 days, respectively, before slaughter at an abattoir. Salmonella was isolated from 58.2% (67/115) of the sows and 31.3% (16/51) of the slaughter hogs. This difference in Salmonella prevalence was significant (chi 2 = 10.22, P less than 0.005); therefore, the hypothesis that there would be no significant difference in the infection rates of sows and slaughter hogs was rejected.