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Infection and Immunity, October 2001, p. 6318-6322, Vol. 69, No. 10
Department of Poultry Science, Mississippi
State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762
Received 2 April 2001/Returned for modification 10 May
2001/Accepted 20 June 2001
A field strain of Enterococcus faecalis was
administered to broiler chicks at doses of 0, 3 × 106, 1.5 × 107, and 2 × 107 bacteria/bird either intra-abdominally or
intravenously. In trials 1 to 3, birds were reared communally in a
broiler house on pine shaving litter. In trial 4, challenged and
control birds were maintained in separate isolation rooms in metal
cages with raised wire floors. Challenged birds exhibited a
characteristic cavity or depression in the external wall of the right
ventricle. A subjective scoring system was devised to quantify
challenge effects by assigning each heart a score of 1 to 4. The
average number of birds, over all trials and over all dose levels,
exhibiting the ventricular cavity was 93%. This value in controls was
5%. The average heart score for challenged birds was 3.1, and that for
controls was 0.20. Heart scores of challenged and control chicks were
not different in birds reared communally or in separate isolation
rooms. Additionally, both routes of administration were equally
effective. Results suggest that challenge with E.
faecalis caused pulmonary hypertension.
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.69.10.6318-6322.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Pulmonary Hypertension Syndrome in Broilers Caused
by Enterococcus faecalis

*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Poultry Science
Department, Box 9665, Mississippi State, MS 39762. Phone: (662)
325-3377. Fax: (662) 325-8292. E-mail:
pthaxton{at}poultry.msstate.edu.
Journal series no. J-9844 of the Mississippi Agriculture and
Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES).
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