Rhizomucor pusillus mucormycosis combined with chlamydiosis in an African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus erithacus)

Abstract

This paper describes a case of mucormycosis combined with chlamydiosis in an African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). The clinical signs included diarrhoea, an unsteady gait and a twisted neck. Smears of the spleen, liver and contents of the cloaca stained strongly positive for Chlamydia species. Histologically, hyphae typical of Zygomycetes were observed invading through the walls of blood vessels of the spleen. Rhizomucor pusillus was isolated as a pure culture from the intestines, lungs and liver.

Necrotising ventriculitis due to combined infection with Rhizopus microsporus var. chinensis and Candida krusei in an eclectus parrot (Eclectus roratus)

“…infection and one of only a few cases in parrots of alimentary tract zygomycosis confirmed by cytological and histological examinations, fungal culture and identification. 18 Gastrointestinal zygomycosis caused by R. microsporus var. rhizopodiformis has been described in humans in association with gastric carcinoma 19 and chronic granulomatous disease, 20 and in a pig with porcine circovirus infection.…”

FUNGAL OSTEOMYELITIS IN TWO BUFFLEHEAD DUCKLINGS (BUCEPHALA ALBEOLA)

“…4,14 Mucormycosis is considered an uncommon mycotic disease of birds and generally is associated with gastrointestinal disease, although renal and respiratory disease have been reported. 2,3,[9][10][11] With the wide variety of clinical presentations that can be seen with fungal infections, mycotic disease should be considered for patients with a variety of clinical signs.…”

Variations in the morphology of <i>Rhizomucor pusillus</i> in granulomatous lesions of a Magellanic penguin (<i>Spheniscus magellanicus)</i>

“…are the most common cause of mycosis in birds, accounting for many cases of respiratory infections [ 1 , 13 ]. There are also a few reports of candidiasis or mucormycosis in chickens, ostriches, ducks and parrots, affecting the lungs, air sacs, liver, spleen and skeletal muscle [ 4 , 6 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. In penguins, several cases of aspergillosis have been reported [ 5 , 15 ].…”

“…Narrow hyphae with short irregular branching were 1 to 3 µ m in width and reacted positively to Fungiflora Y staining, which is a sensitive method to detect the cell wall components of most fungi, except for those of Mucoraceae. Although the possibility of mixed infection of fungi was suspected, because some case reports of mycosis indicated mixed infection with other fungi or bacteria [ 4 , 10 , 11 ], immunohistochemical examination revealed that all the fungi, excluding the rarely seen aspergilla, were Mucoraceae. The degeneration of fungi resulting from caseous necrosis may lead to an ambiguous reaction, as most of the narrow hyphae that exhibited positive reactions with Fungiflora Y were observed in or around the areas of necrosis.…”

“…Another characteristic finding of this case was that a great many sporangiospores and several sporangia were seen in the bronchi and parabronchi. Although many cases of mucormycosis of the lungs have been reported [ 3 , 4 , 8 , 9 , 12 ], sporangiospores have been seen in only a very few birds [ 3 , 4 ] and in no domestic animals, except for poultry. The shapes of sporangiophores, sporangia and columellae are key to the identification of Mucoraceae [ 7 ], and the round sporangia and round columellae in the present case were consistent with those of Rhizomucor sp.…”