An epidemiological survey on the prevalence of Salmonella in swine in central Italy

The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in swine herds in Italy. Samples of faeces from finishing swine farms, cecal contents and ileo-cecal lymphnodes from pigs at slaughter were analysed for Salmonella. Samples of blood serum and meat juice were collected from the same groups, and tested for antibodies against Salmonella O-antigens with an ELISA test kit. 6.5% of faeces from finishing swine resulted positive, with 40% of the groups showing at least one positive sample, while Salmonella was isolated from 28.5% of cecal samples (85% of the groups) and 26.4% of lymph nodes (75% of the groups). The results of serology showed positivity in 100% of the herds and 95% of groups at slaughter. S. Typhimurium, S. Infantis, S. Derby were the most frequent isolated serotypes