Investigations On The Carrier Rate Of Pasteurella Multocida In Black Rats (Rattus Rattus) In A Commercial Quail Farm

The aim was to investigate the level of Pasteurella Multocida infection from two anatomic sites of black rats (Rattus Rattus), popularly referred to as house or roof rats in a commercial quail farmhouse with recurrent fowl cholera outbreaks and also to evaluate the association between the Pasteurella Multocida found in rats co-habiting quail poultry houses and isolates from outbreaks of fowl cholera. Thus 100 pharyngeal and 100 rectum swabs samples taken from rats co-habiting farmhouse were obtained and evaluated bacteriologically for isolation of P. multocida; 54% of pharyngeal swabs and 62% of rectum swabs were positive for P. multocida. Extended phenotypic characterization of the isolates confirmed the presence of subspecies P. multocida multocida. Subspecies Pasteurella Multocida septica and gallicida were not encountered. Ramdom serotyping of 5 isolates each from the two sites confirmed serotypes A:4. Fowl cholera outbreaks were confirmed on the quail houses and carrier rats had the same Pasteurella Multocida subspecies and serotype as the infected quail. The public health significance of the finding is also discussed.African Journal of Clinical and Experimental Microbiology Vol. 10 (1) 2009: pp. 2-9