Fungi on feathers of common clinically healthy birds in Belgrade

Abstract

In the quarantines of the epyzootiological territory of Belgrade, feathers deriving from live and dead dehydrated exotic birds were samples. Birds were housed in closed disinfected bird shelter facilities with cages. Study was carried out in 4 quarantines of total 22, during 2010, and it included only 5 bird species, 3 birds of each species (Coracias cyanogaste, Acridothere tristis, S. canaria, Pycnonotus cafer and Tockus fasciatus). A total of 15 samples of feathers were analyzed. Samples were placed in the antibiotics solution, for 24 hours at room temperature, and subsequently cultivated on Sabouraud dextrose agar and Potato dextrose agar, in aerobic conditions in the darkness at the temperature of in 37°C duration of 5 days, and 3-4 weeks at 20±2 ºC (Scopulariopsis spp.), and in aerobic conditions at room temperature of 20±2 ºC for 5 days (Aspergillus spp., Penicillum spp. and Fusarium spp.) The presence of Scopulariopsis spp., Aspergillus spp., Penicillum spp. and Fusarium spp. was identified. The study showed that commonly healthy birds, as well as dead birds, which died mainly due to exhaustion and dehydration during transportation, can carry various fungi/moulds which contaminate the air, soil and water surrounding their habitats. Most of these birds are sold as closed domesticated pets which are clinically healthy birds, however, they can be important source of potentially pathogen causers which they carry on their body. This finding of fungal species on the body/feathers of birds are naturally suitable place for their transmission, and this also contributes to better understanding of the nature and occurrence of many wide spread diseases in transmiting mycoses.

Bird feather fungi from Svalbard Arctic

“…Knowledge of fungi growing on birds from the Arctic (Wojczulanis- Jakubas et al 2011;Dynowska et al 2013) and Antarctic (Del Frate and Caretta 1990;Singh et al 2014) region is very limited. The presence of fungi on the feathers of common, clinically healthy birds from tropical, subtropical, and other than polar regions (Buck 1983;Buck and Chabasse 1998;Mancianti et al 2002;Czeczuga et al 2004;Dynowska and Kisicka 2005a, b;Cafarchia et al 2006;Kutty and Philip 2008;Mandeel et al 2011;Miljković et al 2011;Gungnani et al 2012) has also been documented. The migration and its epidemiological significance of pathogenic fungi among different habitats with respect to wild birds have been reported (Tsiodras et al 2008).…”

Foot-pad dermatitis in commercial broilers

“…In our environment this agent was isolated in Coracias cyanogaster-Coraciiformes and Fringillidae-Passeriformes imported as a free-living birds in quarantine in Serbia, described by Miljković et al, (2011).…”

“…However, the role of other factors is less clear. Bearing in mind this data, our objective was to take out pathogenic opportunistic environmental fungidermatophytes which are most frequently isolated in our country, from skin and on/in feather follicles of clinically healthy birds, Miljković et al, (2011) and affected Japanese quails, Sah et al, (1982). Gross erosive pathologic lesions usually are nonspecific and not suspected for mycosis until culture isolation of agents and histopathology examination of tissue section are carried out.…”