Infections and pathology of free-roaming backyard chickens on St. Kitts, West Indies

Abstract

Free-roaming chickens on Caribbean islands are important sentinels for local avian diseases and those introduced by birds migrating through the Americas. We studied 81 apparently healthy unvaccinated free-roaming chickens from 9 parishes on St. Kitts, an eastern Caribbean island. Using commercial ELISAs, no chickens had antibodies against avian influenza virus, West Nile virus, or Salmonella Enteritidis, although seropositivity was high to infectious bursal disease virus (86%), infectious bronchitis virus (84%), Mycoplasma (37%), and avian avulavirus 1 (Newcastle disease virus, 31%). Examination of small and large intestinal contents revealed cestodes in 79% and nematodes in 75% of the chickens. Although ectoparasites and endoparasites were common (74% and 79%, respectively), only a few chickens had lesions at postmortem examination, mainly intestinal serosal nodules (12%) and feather loss (6%). Histologic examination of 18 organs from each bird revealed lesions in high percentages of organs, mainly the liver (86%), lung (75%), spleen (60%), small intestine (56%), skin (42%), and kidney (40%). Lesions included degenerative, reactive, inflammatory, and neoplastic, and were not correlated with the serologic status of the chickens except in one case of infectious bursal disease. Microscopically, Paratanaisia bragai was seen in the kidneys of 3 chickens and intestinal coccidiasis in 1 chicken. Pulmonary silicate aggregates were common, were present in intestinal serosal nodules, and were suggestive of environmental exposure.

A Cross-Sectional Seroepidemiological Study on Infectious Bursal Disease in Backyard Chickens in the Mymensingh District of Bangladesh

“…Consequently, the occurrence of IBD antibodies in the present study provides evidence that backyard chickens were exposed to natural IBDV infection. Our current findings were similar to those of previous studies conducted globally, for example, 86% by Bolfa et al [ 34 ] in St. Kitts, 83.1% by Jenbreie et al [ 35 ], and 83% by Tadesse and Jenbere [ 20 ] in Ethiopia. Converse findings were also recorded by different earlier studies; for example, a higher prevalence was detected by Chaka et al [ 36 ] in Ethiopia with 91.9% seropositivity; lower prevalence was determined by Jordan et al [ 37 ] in Trinidad and Tobago, Abdeta et al [ 38 ] in Western Ethiopia, and Lemma et al [ 39 ] in Eastern Ethiopia with 67.5%, 66.93%, and 51.7% seropositive rates of IBDV antibodies, respectively.…”

“…Therefore, isolating and identifying IBDV in backyard chickens is critical. Few studies on broiler and layer birds have been conducted in Bangladesh [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]; however, there is a lack of seroepidemiological detection of IBDV in backyard chickens. Using indirect ELISA, the current cross-sectional serological study was conducted to detect IBDV antibodies in backyard chickens in the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh.…”

Investigação epidemiológica de parasitas gastrointestinais em cães de diferentes ambientes da região central do Brasil: implicações para a saúde humana-animal-ambiental

“…e Entamoeba coli, ambos com 12%. Contudo, a maioria das espécies de parasitas identificados em nosso trabalho possui potencial zoonótico e distribuição mundial (Stensvold et al, 2007;Bolfa et al, 2019;Maganga et al, 2019).…”

Occurrence and Role of Selected RNA-Viruses as Potential Causative Agents of Watery Droppings in Pigeons

“…The three main reasons why pigeons pose a particular threat to other species could be recognized as: (1) the poorly described and often lacking obvious clinical signs course of infections, which impedes the effective prevention and treatment; (2) the possibility of spreading the pathogens on large distances by pigeons flying freely; and (3) relatively frequent contact between different bird species reared in households or at live bird markets [6]. In this paper, the emphasis is put on RNA-viruses from the Astroviridae, Picornaviridae, 2 of 17 and Coronaviridae families; the Avulavirinae subfamily; and the Rotavirus genus, which are prevalent disease factors in various domestic animals, including poultry [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. Those viruses are also isolated from domestic pigeons, but it remains unknown if the infections they cause lead to diseases of the digestive and/or the excretory tract.…”

“…Astroviridae, Picornaviridae, and Coronaviridae families; the Avulavirinae subfamily; and the Rotavirus genus, which are prevalent disease factors in various domestic animals, including poultry [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24].…”