Pathological Observations of Amyloidosis in Swans and Other Anatidae

Abstract

In 49 of 88 swans and other Anatidae autopsied were diagnosed as amyloidosis histopathologically. The affection tend to occur in older birds and irrespective of sex and breeding place. Amyloid deposition was seen in the liver, spleen, kidney, pancreas, heart, thyroid, adrenal and gastrointestinal tract. In the spleen, massive deposition of amyloid was attended with multiple necrotic foci and heterophilic infiltration. In the kidney the glomeruli and renal tubules were degenerate or disappeared due to amyloid infiltration. The thyroid and adrenals were often extensively affected leaving little normal structure. In some cases there were associations of enteritis, airsacculitis, peritonitis, gout or bumble foot, but it remains unclear whether amyloidosis was a sequence of those diseases.