1988 Volume 41 Issue 4 Pages 255-258
The poultry farm where this disease outbreak occurred had been raising 3, 000 19 day old chicks and 7, 000 12 day old chicks when diagnosticians visited in March 1984. The outbreak was seen in the former group only. Its poultry house was using powdery diatomite as litter, the other sawdust.
From 15 days of age onwards the chicks had shown depression, listlessness or collapse and some birds had died. In the course of 5 days 191 chicks (6.3%) died or were killed. A number of organisms of Absidia corymbifera were isolated from the lungs of all chicks examined.
Microscopically, the lungs were congested and granulomatous lesions were scattered the secondary and tertiary bronchiolar walls. In the macrophages of the bronchioles deposits of diatomite crystals were recognized.
A total of 33 chicks in 3 groups, 7, 14 and 28-day-old, were inoculated with a spore suspension into the bronchus. As a result, granulomatous lesions, which resembled those of the field case, were found at a high rate.
