Background:
Infectious diseases have expanded their host and geographic ranges, increasing impacts on both
human and
animal health.
Mycoplasma gallisepticum usually causes avian chronic respiratory conditions and Histomonas meleagridis infects the
cecum and the
liver of
poultry. Although these
diseases have been reported in several
bird species, information associated with their
prevalence and impact in local flocks of ornamental
birds is scarce. This
communication describes severe
outbreaks of mycoplasmosis and
histomoniasis that affected a southern Brazilian commercial flock of ornamental
birds. Case The
outbreaks occurred in an ornamental
bird flock that contained 2,340
birds from 39 different species, distributed mostly in the orders
Galliformes,
Anseriformes, and
Psittaciformes.
Mycoplasma gallisepticum affected 12 chukar partridges, 12 Indian peacocks, 19 ornamental
chickens and 46 individuals of 4 species of pheasant. The
disease cases were distributed between April and July 2015. A total of 36
birds died due to the
disease complications and most surviving
birds suffered from severe ocular sequels, which determined their subsequent culling, despite attempts of different
treatment protocols. The main signs included coughing,
sneezing, infraorbital swelling, wasting, and
death which were mostly associated with caseous
sinusitis. Affected
birds had positive samples when stained with anti-
Mycoplasma gallisepticum immunohistochemistry and tested by
Mycoplasma gallisepticum-
Polymerase Chain Reaction. The application of 2 doses of a
Mycoplasma gallisepticum vaccine in early 2016 to all the
Galliformes in the flock reduced the annual
prevalence to 4 clinical cases.
Histomoniasis affected and killed 19 out of 27 chukar partridges that were being kept with ring-necked pheasants in the same enclosure. The
disease occurred between September [
](AU)