Survey of Salmonella prevalence on commercial turkey breeding and fattening farms in the UK in 2006 to 2007

A total of 29 breeding turkey holdings and 317 fattening turkey holdings were sampled between October 2006 and September 2007 in order to establish the baseline prevalence of Salmonella in turkeys in the UK. The weighted holding level Salmonella prevalence was found to be 20.1 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval [CI] 8.6 to 40.3 per cent) in breeding turkeys and 37.7 per cent (95 per cent CI 33.4 to 42.3 per cent) in fattening turkeys. For breeding turkeys, a weighted flock-level prevalence, as more than one flock per holding was sampled, was estimated at 7.1 per cent (95 per cent CI 3.2 to 14.8 per cent). A total of 13 different serovars were identified in the survey. The most frequent serovar in both turkey flock classes was Salmonella Kottbus, which was found on two breeding holdings and 63 of the fattening holdings giving weighted prevalences of 10.4 per cent (95 per cent CI 2.6 to 34.1 per cent) and 23.0 per cent (95 per cent CI 19.3 to 27.3 per cent), respectively. On breeding holdings, a single isolate of Salmonella Typhimurium, identified as DT12 (weighted prevalence 3.5 per cent [95 per cent CI 0.7 to 15.8 per cent] [holding], 0.7 per cent [95 per cent CI 0.1 to 3.7 per cent] [flock)], was found. On fattening holdings, there were 55 isolates of S Typhimurium from 16 holdings, giving a weighted prevalence of this serovar of 5.4 per cent (95 per cent CI 3.6 to 8.0 per cent). There were no isolates of Salmonella serovars Enteritidis, Hadar, Infantis or Virchow.