The incidence of Salmonella bacteria in Danish wildlife and in imported animals.

Based upon examination during the three-year-period 1972-74 of 2519 Danish game animals and of 415 warmblooded and 214 cold-blooded animals of foreign origin an attempt has been made to make out the incidence of Salmonella infection among Danish game as compared to Danish domestic animals, to estimate the risk of cross contamination in the kitchen from such animals, to find out if Danish game are infected from polluted areas, and to uncover the possible risk of introducing new Salmonella species with imported animals. The results (Table I) show a Salmonella incidence of 0.9% among Danish game, 1.3% among warm-blooded animals of foreign, and 13.6% among reptiles of foreign origin. Details about the distribution of types are given in Table II for animals of Danish origin, and in Table III for imported animals. The conclusion is: (I) In Denmark Salmonella infections are less common among game than among domestic animals. (II) Of game animals regularly used for human consumption only two mallards and no mammals yielded Salmonella, which implies that the risk of cross contamination is very small. (III) Except for sea-gulls Danish game do not seem to pick up infection from polluted areas. (IV) The greatest health hazard seems to be associated with imported reptiles, because these animals are potential excretors of Salmonella and because they are often sold as pets which means that especially children are exposed. Besides what is shown in the tables an outbreak of salmonellosis in small birds during the winter 1973-74 is described. This outbreak, however, does not influence the general estimate of the risk involved in the consumption of game, since small birds are not used for human food in Denmark.