Prevalence of Salmonella Infection in Cattle and Chicken in Morogoro using ELISA and Culture Methods

Abstract

Three hundred and thirty six (336) slaughtered cattle, and 77 chickens suffering from Fowl typhoid and 112 chickens with paratyphoid were screened for the presence of Salmonella serogroup D using ELISA, SAT and culture methods. Twenty eight point four (28.4%) of cattle were found to have Salmonella infection by ELISA method as compared to 2.1% by culture methods. Similarly, 94.8% chicken with Fowl typhoid were found to be reactors with ELISA whereas only 32.5% and 1.3% were detected by SAT and culture methods respectively. Chicken with paratyphoid infection were negative for serogroup D using culture and SAT but 71.4% were found to be reactors when ELISA were used. It is concluded that ELISA is highly sensitive serodiagnostic method but the specificity is doubtful. It is recommended that the specificity of the antigen must be improved