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The Indian Veterinary Journal (October, 2014)
74
Indian Vet. J., October 2014, 91 (10) : 74 - 75
Clinical Investigation on Mycotic Pneumonia in Emu Chicks
T. Lurthu Reetha1, P. Senthilkumar, P.N. Richard Jagatheesan, G. Rajarajan and M. Arthanareeswaran
TANUVAS - Regional Research centre, Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu.
(Received : 08-11-2013; Accepted : 17-01-2014)
Abstract
Emu chicks in the age groups of one to two
months maintained at TANUVAS- Regional
Research Centre, Pudukottai were exhibited the
clinical signs of respiratory distress, dysponea,
cough, anorexia, dullness , unthriftiness and
unable to walk. The emu chicks were treated
with antibiotics and supportive therapies but
the chicks were not responded to the treatment
and died after three days. Based on colonial
morphology and microscopic morphology the
isolated fungus was identied as Aspergillus
fumigatus. Copper sulphate @ 2.5 grams per 100
litres of drinking water was given to the remain-
ing birds as preventive measures for three days.
Key words : Emu chicks, Mycotic Pneumonia,
Copper sulphate.
Mycotic Pneumonia is divided in to acute
and chronic. The acute form occurs when birds
are exposed to an overwhelming dose of spores.
The chronic form affects birds under immuno-
suppression. The disease mycotic pneumonia
is caused by a fungus belonging to Aspergillus
Species. It is important to make a quick diagno-
sis to avoid heavy mortality. The present paper
documents a case of mycotic pneumonia infec-
tion in Emu chicks.
Materials and Methods
The study was conducted at Emu Research
Unit, Regional Research Centre, Tamil Nadu
Veterinary and Animal Sciences University,
Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu . All Emu chicks in the
age group of one to two months were maintained
under standard management practices. The
emu chicks were fed with emu brooder mash
containing 17.8 % crude protein and 2780 Kcal
Metabolizable energy.
Feed and water were provided ad libitum.
Four emu chicks have shown respiratory distress
and the symptom have not subsided after
antibiotic treatment at the end the chicks were
died. Detailed post mortem was conducted and
the samples were collected for microbiological
examination. Lung tissue, air sacs were cultured
in Sabouraud dextrose agar with Chlorampheni-
col (0.05 mg/mL) and incubated under aerobic
condition at 25°C for 3-5 days. The colonies were
transferred to a microscopic slide containing few
drops of Lacto phenol cotton blue. The contents
of the nodules were treated with 10% Potas-
sium Hydroxide solution for direct examination
adopted by Theophilus Anandkumar et al (2012)
Results and Discussion
The clinical signs shown by emu chicks on the
day prior to death were respiratory distress,
dyspnoea, cough, anorexia and unthriftiness.
The birds were showed labored respiration
with opened mouth breathing. These observa-
tions were in accordance with the reports on
pulmonary aspergillosis in Rhea by Reissing et
al. (2002) and aspergillosis in poultry by Pascal
Ame et al. (2011). Post mortem examination
revealed congested lungs yellow nodules with
frothy exudates, dark red liver with necrotic
areas, mild enteritis and haemorrhages in the
mucosa were noticed in small and large intes-
tine. Similar ndings were reported in avian
species by Bhattacharya (2003) and in emus by
Sunitha Karunakaran et al.(2010).
Fungus was isolated from lung tissue,
air sacs in Sabouraud dextrose agar with Chlor-
amphenicol (0.05 mg/mL) and incubated under
aerobic condition at 25 degree C for 3-5 days
by Jung et al. (2009) revealed characteristic
1Corresponding author : Email : drreethaarul@gmail.com
The Indian Veterinary Journal (October, 2014)
75
growth of fungal hyphae. Based on the colonial
and microscopic morphology the isolated fungus
was identied as Aspergillus fumigatus. The
ndings of the present study were in line with
the ndings of Yokota et al .(2004) in ostrich.
Based on the microscopic detection of fungus in
the lung tissue and cultural conrmation the
reason for mortality of emu chicks was diagnosed
as Mycotic Pneumonia. Copper sulphate@ 2.5
grams per 100 litres of drinking water was given
to the remaining birds as preventive measures
for three days. A good response by chicken to
this treatment was also reported by Islam et
al( 2009).The prompt diagnosis along with the
biosecurity measures prevented the aspergil-
losis out break in the remaining emu chicks.
References
Bhattacharya, A. (2003) Aspergillus fumigates infection in
Khaki cambell ducks in an organised farm in Tripura. Indian
Vet.J. 80 (11) : 1178-1179.
Islam, M.N, Rashid,S.M.H, Juli, M.S.B.,Rima,U.K. and
Khatun,M.(2009) Pneumomycosis in chickens: clinical,
pathological and therapeutic investigation. Int.J.Sustain.crop
rod.4:16
Jung, K., Kim, Y., Lee, H and Kim.J.T .(2009) Aspergillus
fumigatus infection in two wild Eurasian black vultures (Aegy-
pius monachus Linnaeus) with carbofuran insecticide poison-
ing: a case report. The Vet.J., 179 : 307 -312.
Pascal Ame, Simon Thierry and Jaques guillot (2011) Asper-
gillus fumigates in poultry. Int J Microbiol. 12-13.
Reissing EC, Uzal FA, Schettino .A and Robles CA. (2002)
Pulmonary aspergillosis in a great rhea (Rhea Americana)
Avian Dis. 46: 754-756.
Sunitha Karunakaran, Krishnan Nair, G., Divakaran Nair, N.
and Mini, M. (2010) Systemic Aspergillosis in Emu Chicks in
an organised farm in Kerala.Veterinary World, 3(10): 453-455.
Theophilus Anandkumar, C., J. Selvaraj, G. Balakrishnan,
S.Saraswathi, D.Baskaran, Parimal Roy, B.Murali Mano-
har and H.Gopi (2012) Aspergillosis in Emu Chicks. Indian
Vet.J.89(5): 73-74.
Yokota.T., T. Shibahara, Y, Wada. R. Hiraki, Y. Ishikawa and K.
Kadota, (2004). Aspergillus fumigatus in commercial poultry
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Indian Vet. J., October 2014, 91 (10) : 75 - 77
Isolation, Characterization, Pathogenicity and Antibiogram of Clostridium
Perfringens from Poultry Samples in West Bengal
Molina Sarkar, K. Batabyal1, J. P. Roy, S.K. Mukhopadhayay and P. Biswas
Department of Veterinary Microbiology, F/VAS, West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences, 37, K.B. Sarani, Kolkata, West Bengal – 700 037.
(Received : 08-10-2013; Accepted : 04-02-2014)
Abstract
Clostridium perfringens type-A can cause
‘necrotic enteritis’ in poultry. A total of
477(52.8%) samples from different broiler farms
and poultry feed mills yielded Clostridium
perfringens type-A. The pathogens were isolated
mostly from compounded poultry feed samples
(89 i.e. 57.8%) followed by poultry feed animal
origin components which produced 54.7%,
viscera of dead poultry birds (51.2%) and
samples from farm utensils/environment (51%).
Isolated Clostridium perfringens strains showed
typical results during biochemical characteriza-
tion i.e. positive to sugar fermentation tests, H2S
production, stormy fermentation, lecithinase
production and nitrate reduction but negative to
indole and catalase tests. Approx 41.4% & 31.5%
of selected lecithinase positive strains yielded α
and θ haemolysins respectively. Again 18.4%
strains produced combination of both haemo-
1Corresponding author : Email : drkb.micro@gmail.com
T. Lurthu Reetha et al.
