Abstract

Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Choleraesuis is rarely detected in Europe, but the clinical disease in pigs, was reported in wild boars. Salmonellosis caused by S. Choleraesuis has never been confirmed in Serbia, as in many other countries in Europe. In April 2019, on one large farrow-to-finish pig farm, an increase in mortality in weaned piglets with lethargy, anorexia, pyrexia and respiratory distress was reported. Gross pathology revealed dermal cyanosis, mesenteric lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly, hepatomegaly, interstitial pneumonia and colitis. By direct culturing of lung, liver, spleen and lymph nodes S. Choleraesuis variant Kunzendorf was isolated. This is the first report on the detection of S. Choleraesuis in domestic pigs in Serbia and re-appearance of salmonellosis due to S. Choleraesuis after decades of absence of disease on pig farms in Europe, which provides useful information about the epidemiology of this agent on the European continent. However, the definitive source for this outbreak and origin of infection still have to be elucidated.