Seeing Salmonella move through pigs.Imagine being able to photograph a Salmonella salmonella Any of the rod-shaped, gram-negative, non-oxygen-requiring bacteria that make up the genus Salmonella. Their main habitat is the intestinal tract of humans and other animals. infection as it moves through a live pig and show the process as patches of colors not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed. See also: Color . That's what's being proposed by Donald C. Lay, research leader at ARS's Livestock Behavior Research Unit in West Lafayette, Indiana West Lafayette (IPA: [wɛst ˈlɑ.fəˌjɛt]) is a city in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, 65 miles (105km) northwest of Indianapolis. The population was 28,778 at the 2000 census. , and Scott T. Willard of Mississippi State University Mississippi State University, at Mississippi State, near Starkville; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1878 as an agricultural and mechanical college, opened 1880. From 1932 to 1958 it was known as Mississippi State College. . Willard is an expert in biophotonics, a new technology that uses light to mark molecular changes. About two million Salmonella cases are found in livestock in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. each year, costing an average $1.4 billion. Certain swine seem prone to shedding Salmonella bacteria in manure when stressed by transport and the mixing of different herds, both phenomena that are associated with going to market. Scientists do not know how bacteria migrate through an animal's body, including where the bacteria might "hide" and what causes them to be suddenly shed. Lay and Willard have shown that they can treat bacteria to give off light, making it possible to track infections in living piglets and through tissues of adult pigs after slaughter. Now they have received a USDA USDA, n.pr See United States Department of Agriculture. grant to further pursue the work. Their goal is to adapt the technique so that cameras can see through the denser mass of live, 250-pound, market-ready pigs, which is more difficult than seeing through five-pound piglets. Lay and Willard will research ways to improve swine management by identifying animals that are more susceptible to infection and by designing techniques to prevent those swine from spreading infection to their herd mates. |
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