Tracheal Aspergillosis in 6 1/2-Week-Old Chickens Caused by Aspergillus flavus

Abstract

A case of localized tracheal aspergillosis in 6 1/2-week-old single-comb white leghorn pullets caused by Aspergillus flavus is documented. Yellow caseous plaques adherent to the mucosal surface of the tracheas were observed grossly. In several tracheas, the plaques occluded the lumina, and the surrounding tracheal walls were reddened. Histologically, the mucosa was necrotic and infiltrated with macrophages, and fibroplasia was evident in the subadjacent tracheal wall. The lumen of the trachea was almost completely occluded by a combination of fungal mycelia and pyogranulomatous exudate. Portions of tracheal cartilage were elevated into the lumen of the trachea. Other than a sudden increase in mortality to 0.5% per day, there was no evidence of disease in the flock. Depletion of bursal lymphocytes, with concomitant cryptosporidiosis, was evident on histological examination. Acute infectious bursal disease was diagnosed in the succeeding flock at this ranch based upon serology and typical histology.

Aspergillusinfections in birds: a review

“…Aspergillosis is mostly caused by Aspergillus fumigatus but Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus glaucus, Aspergillus nidulans, and other Aspergillus species or mixed infections can play a role in the disease (Barton et al, 1992;Perelman & Kuttin, 1992;Joseph, 2000). The reason why A. fumigatus is the predominant species of airborne fungal infections might be that the spores are much smaller than the spores of other Aspergillus species (Richard & Thurston, 1983).…”

“…Factors impairing the bird's immunity can also predispose to mycosis. Examples of this include the administration of tetracyclines (Oglesbee, 1997) or long-term steroids (Verstappen & Dorrestein, 2005), vaccination (Barton et al, 1992), metabolic bone disease (Vanderheyden, 1993), an inadequate diet (Bauck et al, 1992;Dorrestein, 1992) resulting in hypovitaminosis A (McMillan & Petrak, 1989;De Herdt, 1996), overcrowding (McMillan & Petrak, 1989), shipping (Tsai et al, 1992), quarantine or capture of wild birds (Abrams et al, 2001), starvation, thermal discomfort, migration (Young et al, 1998), inbreeding (Low et al, 2005), circovirus infection (Soike et al, 1999) and lymphoproliferative disorders (Kelly et al, 2004), toxicosis (Young et al, 1998;Carrasco et al, 2001;Jung et al, 2009), traumatic injuries (Xavier, 2008) and reproductive activity .…”

ModellingAspergillus fumigatusinfections in racing pigeons (Columba livia domestica)

“…These fungi are ubiquitous and can be isolated from soil, air and vegetation. The most commonly isolated species is Aspergillus fumigatus but other Aspergillus spp., including Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus glaucus and Aspergillus nidulans, can also play a role (Okoye & Okeke, 1986;Barton et al, 1992;Perelman & Kuttin, 1992;de Wit et al, 1993;Oglesbee, 1997;Joseph, 2000). Mixed infections occasionally occur (Perelman & Kuttin, 1992).…”

Microsatellite typing of Aspergillus flavus from clinical and environmental avian isolates

“…A. flavus can also cause avian infections (Barton et al, 1992;Knudtson & Meinecke, 1972;Okoye et al, 1989;Richard & Thurston, 1983). In fact, A. flavus is the predominant aetiological agent of human invasive aspergillosis in Sfax, Tunisia (Hadrich et al, 2010b).…”