[Reproduction of salmonellosis in swine by aerosol infection]

Four 36-day-old pigs were infected through aerosol with Salmonella cholerae suis var. america, and one pig was injected with same pathogen intravenously as a control, all animals being treated in a chamber. The temperature and the other clinical signs were followed up. Rectal samples and hemocultures were investigated for Salmonella organisms. On the 4th, 8h, 14th, and 25th day a pig was killed for bacteriologic and histopathologic investigations of the viscera. As early as the 48th hour there were in the aerosol-treated animals a rise of temperature and deterioration of the general status. From those that were killed at varying intervals Salmonellae were isolated from the lungs, mediastinal lymph nodes, small intestines, and other organs up to the 14th day after the pigs were infected, while on the 25th day Salmonellae were recovered only in the caecum, from the rectal samples of 3 pigs, and in a hemoculture from one pig. Histopathologically, there were lesions characteristic of salmonellosis. It is supposed that in the conditions of industrial pig farming at least two mechanisms of transmitting the Salmonella organisms exist -- the alimentary one (a primary route), and the air dust one.