Salmonella ochiogu: experimental infection of laboratory mice and oxytetracycline therapy.

The oral infection of laboratory mice with 10(8) colony-forming units of viable Salmonella ochiogu bacteria resulted in clinical salmonellosis and death in 10 out of 45 of the mice (22%). None of the mice treated with oxytetracycline died. Infection in susceptible mice was characterized by septicaemia, respiratory involvement and mild enteritis. The organism was shed in the faeces from the first day after infection until day 30, and cultures from viscera showed systemic dissemination. S. ochiogu was recovered from the faeces of mice treated with oxytetracycline between days 1 and 9 post infection.