Outbreak of aspergillosis in a flock of geese in Zaria, Nigeria

Abstract

A goose from a flock of twenty five geese, with history of gaping, sternal recumbency, greenish watery diarrhea and inappetence was presented to the Avian and Poultry Health Unit of Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Ruffled feathers, drooping of the wings, rales, greenish vent and clear greenish diarrhea were observed on physical examination. At necropsy, congested carcass, enlarged and congested liver and spleen, severely hemorrhagic, mucoid and congested trachea, severely congested lungs with multiple and diffused nodular growth all over the lungs were observed. There was a velvety greenish area in the lungs with black spots at the center and nodular growths on the intercostal muscles. Microscopically, the portions of lungs with nodules were composed of necrotic center with intralesional hyphae and conidia typical of Aspergillus spp., a peripheral inflammatory cell response composed of mononuclear cells infiltration and obliteration of alveolar cells. The mycologic culture allowed the isolation and identification of Aspergillus flavus (A. flavus) from lung samples. The gross and microscopic lesions, in combination with the mycologic identification, provided the diagnosis of pulmonary aspergillosis due to A. flavus infection. CuSO 4 at 1 g per 5 liters of drinking water was used for a period of 7 days with no signs of the infection.

Snakebite Envenoming in Avian Species: A Systematic Scoping Review and Practitioner Experience Survey

“…Chicken (G gallus) 4,5,11 C Domestic turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) 5 C Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 5 C Muscovy duck (C moschata) 11 C Domestic goose (Anser sp.) 11 C Common ostrich (Struthio camelus) 11 C obvious signs of envenomation. In contrast, the practitioner survey, with its extremely small sample size, showed the clinical opposite.…”

“…Thus, 24 unique records were identified via PM or GS search. 1,[3][4][5][6][7][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] A review of references for these records resulted in the addition of 3 more articles. [27][28][29] Only 3 additional reports of snake envenomation in birds, not found on database review, were identified through textbook and proceedings review.…”

“…In the 7 reports (14 cases) of attempted treatment for natural snake envenomations, survival rates of treated patients ranged from 0% to 100%. 3,5,6,10,11,32,33 Of the 14 birds that received veterinary care, 86% (12/14) received prophylactic antibiotics, 71% (10/14) received antivenom, 57% (8/14) received corticosteroids, 50% (7/14) received either subcutaneous or intravascular fluid therapy with or without added dextrose, 21% (3/14) received a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (eg, meloxicam), 21% (3/114) received opioid pain medication, 14% (2/14) received traditional herbal snakebite remedy instead of clinician-recommended antivenom, 7% (1/14) received an antihistamine (eg, diphenhydramine), and 7% (1/14) received wound cutting. Survival rates were 80% (8/10) and 50% (2/4) in antivenom-treated and untreated birds, respectively.…”

“…Notably, 2 avian survivors that were not treated with antivenom were treated with a traditional herbal remedy. 11 In one experimental antivenom treatment, domestic chickens were protected in a dose-dependent manner from Uruguayan coral snake venom when it was incubated with antivenom prior to administration. 24 An anaphylactic-like reaction was noted in 50% (1/2) of the red-tailed hawks receiving an equine polyvalent antivenom.…”