A chicken embryo lethality assay for pathogenic Enterococcus cecorum.

Pathogenic strains of Enterococcus cecorum cause outbreaks of arthritis and osteomyelitis in chickens worldwide. Enterococcal spondylitis (ES) is a specific manifestation of E. cecorum-associated disease of broilers and broiler breeders characterized by increased flock mortality, resulting from unresolved infection of the free thoracic vertebra by pathogenic E.