Evaluation of culture media for detecting airborne Salmonella enteritidis collected with an electrostatic sampling device from the environment of experimentally infected laying hens.

Detection of Salmonella enteritidis in the environment of commercial laying hens is critical for reducing the production of contaminated eggs by infected flocks. In the present study, an inexpensive and portable electrostatic air sampling device was used to collect S. enteritidis in rooms containing experimentally infected laying hens. After hens were orally inoculated with a phage type 13a S. enteritidis strain and housed in individual cages, air samples were collected 3 times each week with electrostatic devices onto plates of 6 types of culture media (brilliant green agar, modified lysine iron agar, modified semisolid Rappaport-Vassiliadis agar, Rambach agar, XLD agar, and XLT4 agar). Air sampling plates were incubated at 37 degrees C, examined visually for presumptive identification of typical S. enteritidis colonies and then subjected to confirmatory enrichment culturing. Air samples (collected using all 6 culture media) were positive for S. enteritidis for 3 wk postinoculation. Because visual determination of the presence or absence of typical S. enteritidis colonies on air sampling plates was not consistently confirmed by enrichment culturing, the postenrichment results were used for comparing sampling strategies. The frequency of positive air sampling results using brilliant green agar (66.7% overall) was significantly greater than was obtained using most other media. A combination of several plating media (brilliant green agar, modified lysine iron agar, and XLT4 agar) allowed detection of airborne S. enteritidis at an overall frequency of 83.3% over the 3 wk of sampling. When used with appropriate culture media, electrostatic collection of airborne S. enteritidis can provide a sensitive alternative to traditional methods for detecting this pathogen in the environment of laying flocks.