A 2-year-old captive,
male Eclectus
parrot (Eclectus roratus), with a previous
history of
neurologic signs episodes, was found dead in its cage without premonitory signs in a private aviary. At necropsy, yellow and caseous nodules were observed in the
lungs. Microscopically, the nodules were composed of
granulomas that had a necrotic center with intralesional
hyphae typical of
Aspergillus spp. and a peripheral inflammatory
cell response composed of
macrophages and
multinucleated giant cells. The mycologic
culture allowed the isolation and identification of A.
flavus from
lung samples. The gross and microscopic lesions, in combination with the mycologic identification provided the
diagnosis of
pulmonary aspergillosis due to A.
flavus infection. To the authors´
knowledge, this is the first
report of mycotic
pneumonia caused by A.
flavus infection in
Psittaciformes.(AU)