author(s)
A Sangeetha, S Balakrishnan, K Porteen, M Dhanalakshmi and K Manimaran

abstract
Salmonellosis is a major public health problem globally. Poultry species acts as reservoir of this bacterium and most of the infections in humans re­sults from the ingestion of contaminated eggs and poor hygienic practices followed by food handlers. Hence, the study was carried out with the objective to evaluate the prevalence of Salmonella in eggs from poultry and Japanese quail sold in local markets in Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu. A total of 125 eggs were collected randomly for isolation of Salmonella in and around Thanjavur district. Briefly, the collected eggs were pre-enriched, enriched and streaked onto Xylose-Lysine Deoxycholate agar. The characteristic Salmonella colonies were subjected to biochemical tests, PCR and antibiotic susceptibility testing (ABST). A 20% prevalence of Salmonella was observed from poultry eggs, however, no Salmonella was recovered from eggs of Japanese Quails. The ABST results suggested that, all the isolates were sensitive to erythromycin, streptomycin, nalidixc acid, gentamicin, doxycycline, tetracycline and amikacin and resistant to methicillin and vancomycin. Results of the study suggest that Salmonella was detected in poultry eggs whereas; it was not detected in Japanese quail eggs in Thanjavur region of Tamil Nadu. Hence, effective salmonellosis control strategies should be followed to control the egg borne transmission. In addition, proper hygienic food safety practices and strict bio-safety measures while handling eggs and avoiding cross contamination needs to be employed for controlling salmonellosis.