Flies and Salmonella: A Bad Combo in Poultry Houses

Very interesting and educative. We should definitely take measures to contain flies.

But I think flies are actively restless for birds to feed on them especially musca domestica, hence the process of infection is still not very convincing.

There was a poultry farm I visited in Egypt recently, the place was swarming with flies! There were flies everywhere, on my face, ears, nose, lips, hands…dont get me wrong, I’m no stranger to flies in poultry farms, but this to me, was really out of control. It was like the movie “Killer Bees.” These were no ordinary flies, they were an “angry” species of Musca domestica…energetic and buzzing like crazy. The good thing is, I had some oregano essential oil with me, which I used as a repellent. It worked instantly. The flies did not like the smell of oregano and stayed away. Various studies have shown the ability of oregano essential oil or its active components in fly control and as a repellent. The other wonderful aspect of oregano essential oils is that is it also anti-salmonella. Many industry experts have realised that certain essential oils have antimicrobial effects and have tried to apply this knowledge to salmonellosis control in poultry farms. Amongst the various essential oils available as feed additives, natural phytobiotics such as oregano essential oils stand out, as they have been found to assist in controlling and preventing salmonellosis in poultry farms. This was recently proven in an experiment by Penalver et al. (2005), who studied the antimicrobial activity of five different essential oils against origin strains of the Enterobacteriaceae family described as follows. An in vitro assay measuring the antimicrobial activity of essential oils of Coridothymus capitatus (Spanish origanum), Satureja montana, Thymus mastichina (Spanish Origanum majorana), Thymus zygis (Spanish variety of Thymus vulgaris) and Origanum vulgare (Orego-Stim®) was carried out against poultry origin strains of Escherichia coli, Salmonella enteritidis and Salmonella essen, and pig origin strains of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), Salmonella choleraesuis and Salmonella typhimurium. The essential oil that showed the highest antimicrobial activity against the four strains of salmonella was Origanum vulgare such as that found in Orego-Stim®. The results of this work confirm the antimicrobial activity of Origanum vulgare as well as its potential application in the treatment and prevention of poultry and pig diseases caused by salmonella. References: Ibrahim, M. A., P. Kainulainen, A. Aflatuni, K. Tiilikkala, and J. K. Holopainen, 2001. Insecticidal, repellent, antimicrobial activity and phytotoxicity of essential oils with special reference to limonene and its suitability for control of insect pests. Agric. Food Sci. Fin 2001. 10:243–259. Karpouhtsis I., E. Pardali, E. Feggou, S. Kokkini, Z. G. Scouras and P. Mavragani-Tsipidou, 1998. Insecticidal and Genotoxic Activities of Oregano Essential Oils, J. Agric. Food Chem., 46 (3): pp 1111–1115. Penalver P, Huerta B, Borge C, Astorga R, Romero R, Perea A. Antimicrobial activity of five essential oils against animal origin strains of the Enterobacteriaceae family. APMIS 2005113:1–6.