1998 Volume 51 Issue 9 Pages 528-532
Twenty carcases of broiler chickens 51 days of age from a flock of 2, 542 birds were diagnosed as cholangiohepatitis at processing meat inspection. All affected cases showed enlargement and discoloration of liver with apparent acinar pattern. Enlarged gall bladder and extrahepatic bile ducts contained yellow inspissated material. Histopathologically, bile ductules were extensively proliferated with fibrosis forming interlobular bridges between triads. The portal bile ducts were destroyed and obstructed by multiple granulomas due to bacterial infection and the bile outflow. Infiltration of lymphocytes and plasma cells with germinal centers was also observed around granulomas. In these lesions many Gram-positive bacilli were observed and they were positive for Clostridium perfringens antigen by indirect immunofluorescence. C. perfringens was isolated and identified from affected livers.
