An occurrence of Salmonella infection in cranes at the Izumi Plains, Japan

Ten thousand or more cranes migrate from Siberia and stay at the Izumi Plains, in the northern part of Kagoshima prefecture, Japan, every winter season. Four hundred and twenty samples of cranes feces were obtained 1995 to 1997 and investigated for Salmonella. As a result, twenty-nine of Salmonella strains were isolated. All isolates were determined to be identical, Salmonella Typhimurium (O4:i: 1,2), since all of them indicated the same patterns of plasmid profiling and antibiotic sensitive spectrums. The isolates showed a high pathogenicity to chicken, and most of them were isolated in the latter half of the winter season; therefore the cranes were infected with the isolates during the winter season.