Isolation of Salmonella houtenae from a cockateel.

Salmonellosis is very common and widespread in cage and aviary birds (7) and poultry (4). It is estimated that 10 of the salmonella serotypes are responsible for more than 70% of the salmonella outbreaks in poultry at any one time (4). Bigland et al. (1) isolated 26 serotypes of salmonella from mammals and birds, the most common from poultry being Salmonella typhimurium, S. thompson, S. heidelberg, S. bareilly, and S. oranienburg. Investigation (8) of the distribution of salmonella in free-living birds in India revealed the predominant serotypes to be S. typhimurium, S. newington, and S. waycross. A similar study (3) of avian species, feeds, and related sources in Israel identified 2,104 strains of salmonella. The prevalent serotypes were S. typhimurium, S. blockley, S. sofia, S. newport, and S. emek.