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. 2000 Jan;41(1):54–59.

Salmonellosis in songbirds in the Canadian Atlantic provinces during winter-summer 1997-98.

P Y Daoust 1, D G Busby 1, L Ferns 1, J Goltz 1, S McBurney 1, C Poppe 1, H Whitney 1
PMCID: PMC1476332  PMID: 10642873

Abstract

From winter 1997 to summer 1998, an epizootic of salmonellosis affected several species of songbirds over a large area of the eastern North American continent. This article describes the details of this epizootic in the Canadian Atlantic provinces, based on laboratory examination of dead affected birds and on suspected but unconfirmed cases of salmonellosis reported by members of the public. The common redpoll (Carduelis flammea) was the species most often affected, followed by pine siskins (C. pinus), purple finches (Carpodacus purpureus), evening grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus), and American goldfinches (Carduelis tristis). A poor body condition and necrotizing and fibrinopurulent esophagitis and ingluvitis were the most common gross lesions in these birds. Thirty-four of 35 isolates of Salmonella recovered from these birds were identified as phage type 40. Despite the magnitude of this and previous epizootics of salmonellosis among North American songbirds, the sources of these epizootics and the precise influence of environmental factors on their occurrence remain poorly understood.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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