Cryptococcosis outbreak in psittacine birds in Brazil

An outbreak of cryptococcosis occurred in a breeding aviary in São Paulo, Brazil. Seven psittacine birds (of species Charmosyna papou, Lorius lory, Trichoglossus goldiei, Psittacula krameri and Psittacus erithacus) died of disseminated cryptococcosis. Incoordination, progressive paralysis and difficulty in flying were seen in five birds, whereas superficial lesions coincident with respiratory alterations were seen in two birds. Encapsulated yeasts suggestive of Cryptococcus sp. were seen in faecal smears stained with India ink in two cases. Histological examination of the birds showed cryptococcal cells in various tissues, including the beak, choana, sinus, lungs, air sacs, heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines and central nervous system. High titres of cryptococcal antigen were observed in the serum of an affected bird. In this case, titres increased during treatment and the bird eventually died. Yeasts were isolated from the nasal mass, faeces and liver of one bird. Cryptococcus neoformans var. gattii serovar B was identified based on biochemical, physiological and serological tests. These strains were resistant (minimum inhibitory concentration 64 μ g/ml) to fluconazole. This is the first report of C. neoformans var. gattii occurring in psittacine birds in Brazil. © 2004 ISHAM.

Frugivoria por aves em Cytharexyllum myrianthum cham (Verbenaceae) em áreas de pastagens de Campinas, SP

Isolated trees in pastures are now often, due to increasing devastation of forested areas, important feeding places for migratory or generalist birds. These trees serve both as food sources and as deposition sites for seeds from fruits consumed in neighboring areas. The objective of this study was to identify the avian consumers of the fruits of Cytharexyllum myrianthum trees in open pastures and describe their feeding behavior and how it influences seed dispersion. Forty two hours of observations included 198 feeding bouts of nine bird species. Turdus leucomelas (Muscicapidae) was the main consumer (28% of fruit consumption), swallowing the entire fruit. Next, was Tyrannus melancholicus (Tyrannidae, 23%), which may be the most efficient seed disperser of C. myrianthum because it regurgitates the seeds on sites far from the parent tree.

Evaluation of serum- and animal protein-free media for the production of infectious bronchitis virus (M41) strain in a continuous cell line

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Morphology of oesophagus and crop of the partrigde Rhynchotus rufescens (Tiramidae)

Twenty adult partridges Rhynchotus rufescens were used to study the morphology of oesophagus and crop. Materials to the morphologic study were collected and lengths of the oesophagus and of the crop were measured. For histological study, fragments of the oesophagus and of the crop were stained routinely with Masson's trichrome stain. Total oesophagus was larger in females. In the entrance of the thorax, its ventral wall is enlarged broadly, forming the crop, which is larger in males. Oesophagus mucosa is constituted by stratified squamous epithelium, with mucous glands and lymphatic tissues. There are three layers of smooth muscle, involved in serosa. The histological structure of the crop is similar to the oesophagus. The mucous glands are reduced in size and the lymphatic tissues are dispersed in the connective tissue. There is a thin stratum of smooth muscle and other two wider layers of longitudinal and circular musculature.

The effect of age on hematological and serum biochemical values on juvenile ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Immunohistochemistry assay to detect Turkey coronavirus (TCoV) from experimentally infected poults

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Patologia clínica em aves de produção - Uma ferramenta para monitorar a sanidade avícola - Revisäo

Clinical pathology has been used in veterinary medicine for many years to evaluate metabolic changes that may indicate any sign of disease in animals. Even though the use of blood parameters is routine in companion animals, it is not commonly used for avian clinical evaluation either wild or production birds. Among others, the lack of information of avian blood reference values has limited the use of this tool in avian medicine. The blood parameters in avian medicine are helpful to evaluate aspects related to animal health for wild and also production birds. Thus, this review paper presents some ways to use clinical pathology parameters to evaluate and to monitor the avian health.

Eritrograma e medição dos eritrócitos de avestruzes (Struthio camelus) em Sãojosé do Rio Preto-SP, Brasil

Ostriches' erythrocytic parameters help on the diagnosis of specific pathologies and serve as basic knowledge for studies in comparative avian pathology. To obtain reference values of erythrocyte indices for ostriches (Struthio camelus) raised in a commercial system in Brazil and verify if there are differences between gender and age groups, 240 healthy from both sexes animals were bled. Heparinized blood samples were analyzed using standard techniques to determine the red blood cell (RBC) count, hemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume (PCV), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) values, besides the red cell morphometry analysis using a computer software that calculates the greater and the smaller diameters of the erythrocytes. Prior to data analysis, ostriches were divided into three different age groups: from four to 13 months, from 13 to 23 months and from 23 to 30 months the. Younger ostriches presented lower erythrocyte indices than the older ones. The age group effect was only significant in females for the erythrocyte, hemoglobin, MCV, MCH, and MCHC variables. The female ostriches presented PCV, MCV, MCH, and MCHC values significantly higher than males in some age groups. It was observed that the erythrocytes of the female ostriches are more elongated and larger than males. It was concluded that erythrocytic parameters of ostriches in São José do Rio Preto-SP, Brazil are influenced by gender and age, highlighting the importance of consider besides these factors also the geoclimatic conditions to an adequate interpretation of the erythrogram.

Estudo da eficácia de espuma para a depopulação de aves para situações de emergência sanitaria

There are several difficulties in the control of quick spreading and highly contagious poultry diseases such as avian influenza and Newcastle disease, which require large numbers of poultry to be rapidly killed inside the poultry houses in order to minimize human exposure and disease spreading. We have built and tested an equipment that uses a waterbased foam from high expansion fire detergent that induces poultry anoxia measured by sensorial signs, time to death, lethality and macro and microscopically lesions. Two hundred 78-weeks old hens were divided into ten groups and exposed to different times of death according to exposure to water-foam varying from 5min30s to 8min15s. All poultry died after six minutes of water-foam cover. Foam bubbles were observed in oral cavity and trachea of all poultry at each time of exposure to foam, revealing physical asphyxia. Macroscopically, congestion in oral cavity and in trachea mucosa was observed. Histopathology revealed diffuse and moderate hemorrhage in lungs and no lesion in trachea. The efficacy of water-foam procedure for poultry depopulation was demonstrated validating its recommendation in case of emergency.

Necropsia cosmética em aves

Necropsy is a post-mortem criterious exam that helps in clinical diagnosis and consists in external and internal analysis of body cavities and organs of a corpse in order to determine the cause of death or to verify the extension and the nature of lesions caused by diseases. Considering the bonds between owners and their pets many veterinarians seems to visualize necropsy as a difficult task. This fact has gained great importance in avian Veterinary Medicine since bird owners have both love and economic bonds. Necropsy in often neglected in Veterinary Medicine although being a very important practice for the professional learning and also for reaching a reliable diagnosis of certain diseases. For this reason, this article aims to describe the procedure for performing avian cosmetic necropsy, which keeps the external characteristics of animals and increases the acceptance of owners by not disfiguring the corpse.

Comparison of electrophoretic and dye-binding methods for measuring albumin concentrations in female turkeys

Albumin concentrations in female Bronze turkeys were compared using agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) and the bromocresol green (BCG) dye-binding method. The correlation coefficient observed for albumin in the BCG and AGE methods was low, and statistical differences were observed at paired t test (p < 0. 0001). Compared with electrophoresis, the BCG-binding method yielded significantly lower albumin values for female turkeys during laying season. © 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited.

Relevance of lovebirds (Agapornis roseicollis Selby, 1836) in experimental epidemiology of Newcastle disease

Studies were made to clarify the role that was played by the lovebirds (Agapornis roseicollis) in the epidemiological plan, under the perspective of its being a potential source of infection of Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV). The study used Specific-Pathogen-Free chicks (SPF) that were housed with lovebirds inoculated with a pathogenic strain (velogenic viscerotropic) of NDV pathogenic to chickens, by the ocular-nasal via. Each group was composed of six SPF chicks and four lovebirds. After five days of the inoculation of the lovebirds with NDV, SPF chicks were put together with each group of lovebirds. Cloacae swabs were collected after 9, 14 and 21 days post-challenge in both species (lovebirds and SPF chicks) for genome viral excretion by Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Lovebirds did not demonstrate any clinical signs of NDV. They were refractory to the clinical disease with the NDV. However, NDV genome was detected 9 and 21 days after challenge. This study shows that lovebirds can be carriers NDV. Moreover, 100% of SPF chicks allocated with the infected lovebirds demonstrated clinical signs and lesions suggestive of NDV. In these birds, NDV genome was detected 9, 14 and 21 days after challenge. Thus, the transmission of the pathogenic virus from the lovebirds to SPF chicks that were housed together was evident until 21 days of the experimental infection. This study reveals the importance of lovebirds from the epidemiological point of view as potential source of infection of the NDV to other avian species that could be raised near this species. © Asian Network for Scientific Information, 2012.

Leucometric analysis of 1-day-old chicks inoculated with Salmonella Typhimurium or Lactobacilli

Salmonella infection is responsible for major economic losses in poultry industry. Consequently, the development of new methods for fighting such disease is desirable, such as the use of acid-lactic bacteria. However, reference values of chicks in such conditions are dissimilar to those of other species. Leucometry reference values for chicks have not been reported. The aim of this article was to evaluate and determine the leucometric values of chicks inoculated with Salmonella Typhimurium or treated with Lactobacilli probiotics. In this study, 144 1-day-old birds were divided in three groups of 48 animals each (non-treated group, Salmonella Typhimurium (ST)-inoculated group, and Lactobacilli inoculated group). A total of four blood collections were made with the first one performed 3 h after inoculation with ST or treatment with Lactobacilli. Subsequent samples were obtained every 48 h for 7 days. Leucometric evaluation was performed immediately after each collection. All birds presented an initial decrease pattern in general leukocyte values, and the chicks inoculated with ST revealed lymphomonoheteropaenic leukopaenia, eosinophilia and basophilia in conjunction with convalescence after 96 h of inoculation. The animals inoculated with Lactobacilli revealed leucocytosis with monocytosis, lymphocytosis and marked eosinopaenia. We conclude that there is no efficient bone marrow response in 1-day-old chicks challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium; additionally, an immunostimulatory effect in 1-day-old chicks treated with Lactobacilli-modulated probiotics could be stated. © 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited.

Comparison of different methods of measuring albumin concentration in ring-necked pheasants

The purpose of this study was to compare albumin concentrations in ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) using two different dye-binding methods: the bromocresol green (BCG) and bromocresol purple (BCP). High positive correlation was observed for albumin in BCG and BCP methods. Compared to BCP, the BCG-binding method yielded significantly higher (p < 0. 0001) albumin values for adult female ring-necked pheasants. © 2012 Springer-Verlag London Limited.

Association of IGF1 and KDM5A polymorphisms with performance, fatness and carcass traits in chickens

Two functional and positional candidate genes were selected in a region of chicken chromosome 1 (GGA1), based on their biological roles, and also where several quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been mapped and associated with performance, fatness and carcass traits in chickens. The insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) gene has been associated with several physiological functions related to growth. The lysine (K)-specific demethylase 5A (KDM5A) gene participates in the epigenetic regulation of genes involved with the cell cycle. Our objective was to find associations of selected single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in these genes with performance, fatness and carcass traits in 165 F2 chickens from a resource population. In the IGF1 gene, 17 SNPs were detected, and in the KDM5A gene, nine SNPs were detected. IGF1 SNP c. 47673G > A was associated with body weight and haematocrit percentage, and also with feed intake and percentages of abdominal fat and gizzard genotype × sex interactions. KDM5A SNP c. 34208C > T genotype × sex interaction affected body weight, feed intake, percentages of abdominal fat (p = 0. 0001), carcass, gizzard and haematocrit. A strong association of the diplotype × sex interaction (p < 0. 0001) with abdominal fat was observed, and also associations with body weight, feed intake, percentages of carcass, drums and thighs, gizzard and haematocrit. Our findings suggest that the KDM5A gene might play an important role in the abdominal fat deposition in chickens. The IGF1 and KDM5A genes are strong candidates to explain the QTL mapped in this region of GGA1. © 2012 Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznan.