Thirty Cases of Aspergillosis Sporadically Occurring in Slaughtered Broiler Chickens from a Farm

Abstract

Fifty-five of 1,080,000 slaughtered broiler chickens, 60 to 65 days of age, from a farm were diagnosed with aspergillosis, and 30 affected cases were subjected to pathological investigation. Based on their lesional distribution, 23 cases were classified into the pulmonary form, 6 into the cutaneous form, and 1 into the systemic form. Macroscopically, in the pulmonary form, yellow-white nodules of increased consistency were found in 13 and 23 cases of the lungs and air sacs, frequently in the abdominal air sacs. Cutaneous nodules were predominantly distributed in the alar and femoral feather tracts and the surrounding areas. The nodules in the systemic form were present in the lungs, air sacs, liver, kidneys and heart. Histologically, the nodular lesions were composed of multifocal coalescing granulomas with hyphae showing morphological characteristics of Aspergillus species. Cutaneous nodular lesions were formed in the feather follicles and their subadjacent dermis. Hematogenous dissemination of the fungus was suggested, since granulomas with hyphae were found in the arteriolar intima in the lungs in systemic form.