Comp Clin Pathol DOI 10.1007/s00580-015-2196-7

CASE REPORT

Infectious coryza in a flock of peafowls (Pavo cristatus) in the University of Ilorin zoological garden Adeshina Yahaya Adenkola 1 & Henry Olanrewaju Jegede 2 & Ayobola B. Adeyemi 3 & Lukman O. Raji 3 & Temitope U. Kolapo 4 & Emmanuel Olugbenga Oyedipe 2

Received: 13 August 2015 / Accepted: 13 October 2015 # Springer-Verlag London 2015

Abstract Twenty-two peafowls (Pavo cristatus) affected by a disease of the upper respiratory tract were referred to the University of Ilorin Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria, for diagnosis and treatment. During the course of the disease, peacocks showed more severe clinical signs including respiratory distress, swollen head/face, gaping, purulent nasal and ocular discharges, occluded eyelids, moist rales, anorexia, depression and recumbency. Tracheal and ocular swabs sent to the Microbiology Laboratory in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology, University of Ilorin, for a microbial culture and isolation revealed the presence of an organism with satellitic growth on chocolate agar and Gram-negative rods under a light microscope which was identified as Avibacterium paragallinarum. With this, coupled with the clinical signs observed, a diagnosis of infectious coryza was made. Treatment protocol from day 1 of presentation comprised use of injectable antibiotics at oxytetracycline long acting once and tylosin for 3 days combined with multivitamins and vitamin C in water for 5 days; then on release of laboratory results, Keproceryl® powder and mebendazole powder were used in water for 5 days. Treatment proved highly responsive as no mortality was recorded during and after

* Henry Olanrewaju Jegede [email protected] 1

Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria

2

Veterinary Teaching Hospital, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

3

Department of Theriogenology and Production, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

4

Department of Parasitology and Entomology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

the course of treatment of the birds, as marked improvement was observed 5 days post-treatment. Keywords Peafowl . Pavo cristatus . Infectious coryza . Avibacterium paragallinarum . Antibiotics . Zoo

Introduction Avibacterium paragallinarum (Blackall et al. 2005) (previously called Haemophilus paragallinarum) causes an acute respiratory disease in chickens known as infectious coryza, a disease first recognized as a distinct entity in the late 1920s (De Blieck 1932) and described as roup, cold, contagious or infectious catarrh and uncomplicated Coryza (Yamamoto 1991). C h i c k e n ( G a l l u s g a l lu s ) i s t h e n a t u r a l h o s t f o r A. paragallinarum, and birds of all ages are susceptible. The disease is usually transmitted through drinking water contaminated with infective nasal exudates (Page 1962). Infection may also occur by contact and by air-borne-infected dust and/or droplets. A. paragallinarum is a Gram-negative, polar staining, nonmotile bacterium. In 24–48-h cultures, it appears as short rods or coccobacilli 1–3 μm in length and 0.4–0.8 μm in width, with a tendency for filament formulation. The organism undergoes degeneration within 48–60 h, showing fragments and indefinite forms (Yamamoto 1991). The Indian peafowl also known as the blue peafowl (Pavo cristatus), a large and brightly coloured bird, is a species of peafowl native to South Asia, but introduced in many other parts of the world like the USA, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, South Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia (Birdlife International 2012); they are susceptible to A. paragallinarum infection

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which has not been documented in this part of the world. It is therefore pertinent to report this important economical disease of poultry diagnosed in a flock of peafowl seen in the zoological garden of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. The traditional definitive method for the diagnosis of infectious coryza requires the isolation of the suspect bacterium and then an extensive biochemical characterization to confirm the identity of the isolate (Blackall et al. 1997). At a minimum, the following test results are required: Gram-negative, catalase-negative, and satellitic organisms from birds showing clinical signs (Blackall 2011). Fig. 2 Swollen face of infected bird

Case report Twenty-two peafowls (P. cristatus) found to be affected by a disease causing swelling of the head were referred to the University of Ilorin, Veterinary Teaching Hospital, for detailed examination and treatment. The birds were kept by the University of Ilorin zoological garden located at Ilorin (Kwara State, Nigeria) where a wide range of other birds are being kept including pigeons, water ducks, pukekos, etc. The flock composed of 13 peacocks and 9 peahens; out of which, 2 peacocks and 2 peahens were white (P. cristatus mut. alba). Clinical signs observed were respiratory distress, swollen head/face, gaping, purulent nasal and ocular discharges, occluded eyelids, moist rales, anorexia, depression and recumbency (Figs. 1 and 2). Tracheal and ocular swabs were taken and sent to the microbiology laboratory for a microbial isolation and sensitivity test to be carried out. Pooled fecal samples from the flock were also sent to the parasitology laboratory for routine examination. Pending the release of laboratory results, an antibiotic therapy of oxytetracycline long acting 20 mg/kg IM once and tylosin 10 mg/kg IM for 3 days with supportive therapy including multivitamins (Vitaflash® powder) 1 g/2 l of drinking water for 5 days and vitamin C 500 mg/1 l of drinking water for 5 days was administered.

Fig. 1 Occlusion of the eyelids and nasal discharge

Upon release of results from the microbiology laboratory, Avibacterium paragallinarium was isolated from all nasal swabs as an organism showing satellitic growth on chocolate agar and was observed with Gram-negative rod-shaped organisms seen under a light microscope. Parasitology results from fecal examination revealed the presence of Capillaria eggs. Following this result, Keproceryl® powder (containing colistin, oxytetracycline, streptomycin, erythromycin and vitamins) was given 1 g/l of drinking water for 5 days. The Capillaria infection was treated using mebendazole at 1 g/l of drinking water. Five days post-treatment, there was a massive improvement as there was marked regression of facial swellings and almost total absence of respiratory distress (Fig. 3). All birds had recovered at 2 weeks post-treatment, and no mortality was recorded (Fig. 4).

Discussion This case report describes the clinical, gross and etiological findings on 22 peafowls naturally infected with Avibacterium paragallinarium. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first

Fig. 3 Five days post-treatment

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Fig. 4 Two weeks post-treatment

report of peafowl infectious coryza in Nigeria. Infectious coryza syndrome has been recognized since the 1930s in chickens and is worldwide in distribution (Blackall et al. 1997). The disease has also been observed in turkeys (Beach and Schalm 1936). The reason clinical signs were more severe in peacocks as compared to peahens is not yet established. Clinically suspected infectious coryza was characterized by respiratory distress, swollen head/face, gaping, purulent nasal and ocular discharges, occluded eyelids, moist rales, anorexia, depression and recumbency. Similar observations were made by Welchman, (2010), Miao et al. (2001), Haunshi et al. (2006), Ibrahim et al. (2004), Kurkure et al. (2001) and Akter et al. (2013) in chickens. Peacocks had a higher morbidity (70 %) and showed more severe clinical signs such as respiratory distress, swollen head/face, gaping, purulent nasal and ocular discharges, occluded eyelids, moist rales, depression and recumbency (Figs. 1 and 2). The peahens were less affected with a morbidity of about 55 %, and severe clinical signs such as swollen heads were almost absent. Although, (Blackall 2005) stated that traditional phenotypic identification of A. paragallinarum has a challenging set of requirements as H. paragallinarum is a fastidious, slowgrowing organism. Hence, it is often overgrown by other faster-growing commensals. Biochemical characterization requires the availability of specialized, expensive media that can support the growth of NAD-dependent bacteria; such media are often beyond the resources of diagnostic laboratories, particularly those in the developing countries where coryza remains a pressing problem. The emergence of NADindependent H. paragallinarum as well as O. rhinotracheale and the NAD-independent isolates of P. avium, P. volantium, and Pasteurella sp. taxon A have greatly added to the complexity of the situation. So the laboratory was able to carry out basically two tests which are satellitic growth on chocolate agar and Gram-negative organism under a light microscope.

Although no formal publications are available in Nigeria on management and treatment of infectious coryza, common antibiotics used in practice are oxytetracycline, enrofloxacin, sulfamethazine-trimethoprim (Standard Veterinary Treatment Guidelines 2006). We started with an intramuscular route of antibiotic therapy because the birds had severe ocular lesions which impaired their vision that could not able them to access the drinkers, also due to recumbency as some of the birds were unable to stand nor walk. This brought about a faster recovery rate. Oxyetracycline long acting was used intramuscularly (Aliu 2007). This is a polycyclic broad-spectrum bacteriostatic antibiotic active against both Gram-positive and Gramnegative bacteria (Aliu 2007). Tylosin was also used intramuscularly daily (Aliu 2007) for 3 days, as it is a common and readily available drug for treating respiratory diseases in poultry especially chronic respiratory disease (Merck). Vitamin C is a potent anti-oxidant and reduces cytomembrane injury by free radicals (Adenkola and Ayo 2009) which is widely recognized as a central feature of many diseases (Repine et al. 1997), leading to our choice of adding vitamin C to the treatment regimen as an anti-stress measure. We believe quick medical intervention coupled with vitamin C supplementation aided in producing the excellent recovery. This to our knowledge is the first reported case of infectious coryza in exotic birds in Nigeria. Compliance with ethical standards Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Ethical approval All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

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