Veterinary Services

Eight turkey poults aged five to six days were submitted from a unit where mortality had reached 10 percent since arrival as day-olds. Postmortem findings typical of non-starters were found in all the birds, with concurrent yolk sac infection in two birds.

Clinical signs and gross pathological findings consistent with mycoplasmosis were observed in two, two-month-old turkey poults submitted for examination. Twenty-five deaths were reported associated with swollen heads and some lameness in turkeys and chickens on the site. Blood samples collected from other birds with previous or current signs of sinusitis were all positive for antibody to Mycoplasma gallisepticum and negative for antibody to avian pneumovirus.

Game birds

Approximately 300 from a batch of 440 pheasant chicks died between five and seven days of age. No obvious clinical signs were reported other than apparent lethargy and death. At necropsy the birds were well feathered but had slightly wet vents. Intestinal contents were fluid and the caecae were distended with fluid. No significant bacteria or protozoa were detected but a pooled sample of intestinal contents tested positive for rotavirus.

Mortality in pheasants aged three to five weeks in a multi-age rearing shed was investigated. Some of the birds had shown respiratory signs suggestive of gapeworm infection but no response to anthelmintic treatment was obtained. Postmortem examination revealed evidence of airsacculitis, from which a number of different bacteria and fungi were isolated. The fungus most commonly isolated from lungs and airsacs was Mucor species. Mucor was also isolated from a feed sample, from dust samples collected from the shed, and from dried vegetation outside the building. Histopathology subsequently confirmed that the airsac lesions were caused by Mucor. Although the lungs had appeared normal grossly, histopathology also revealed severe fungal damage to the lungs. Significant coccidiosis and rotavirus infection were also present in some birds. Mortality approaching 20 percent was noted in affected groups.

Arthritis and tenosynovitis associated with Staphylococcus aureus was diagnosed in three batches of pheasants aged approximately seven to eight weeks. In one of the cases the birds had been on-site for around seven days and birds in two different release pens were affected. In the second case the birds had been delivered about four days earlier and birds in previous deliveries had also been affected. The third incident also involved birds delivered about four days previously. Affected birds had combinations of distended hock joints containing purulent fluid and/or swelling of the tendons above the hock joints.

Coccidiosis and spironucleosis (hexamitosis) were seen in pheasants and red-legged partridges. In pheasants coccidiosis was most commonly seen in birds aged five to six weeks. Spironucleosis tended to affect older birds. A similar age split was noted on a site rearing red-legged partridges; coccidiosis was diagnosed in birds aged four weeks, and spironucleosis was seen in birds aged eleven weeks. On a number of occasions concurrent burdens of trichomonads were found in affected pheasants.

Three purchased adult pheasants were submitted with the history of increased culling due to ill-thrift. All three birds were in poor condition and had various combinations of periorbital swelling, ocular discharge, swollen eyelids, keratitis, and cloudy discharges within the nasal cavity and associated sinuses. An interim diagnosis of mycoplasmosis was made, and this was confirmed by subsequent cultures.

Wild birds

Further cases of necrotic ingluvitis and oesophagitis, consistent with trichomonosis, were noted in greenfinches (Carduelis chloris), chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) and a siskin (Carduelis spinus) from 12 garden sites. However not all deaths in garden birds were due to presumed trichomonosis; deaths from E coli O86 were diagnosed in a greenfinch and a siskin from two locations.