Massive attack of honeybee on macaws ( Ara ararauna and Ara chloropterus ) in Brazil – A case report

Abstract

Three adult birds of the species Ara chloropterus and five of the species Ara ararauna from a conservation breeding facility suffered a massive attack by honeybees. The A. chloropterus birds presented swollen puncture lesions with stingers (mainly in the facial regions without feathers), swelling of the eyelids and subcutaneous tissue, and respiratory distress, and they were treated with intramuscular injections of 1.67 mg/kg of promethazine and 10 mg/kg of hydrocortisone followed by removal of the stingers. Complete remission of the clinical signs occurred 48 hours after start of treatment. The five A. ararauna birds died before they arrived at the veterinary hospital, and the necropsies found stingers in the areas of the face without feathers and the subcutaneous tissue, which were associated with erythema, bruising, and swelling. Food content from the crop was found in the oral cavity and the tracheal lumen, and marked congestion was observed in the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, brain, and cerebellum. Among the histopathological findings, significant swelling of the myocytes in the endocardium and vascular dilation with erythroid repletion were observed, and there were multifocal areas of centrilobular necrosis associated with severe congestion and hemorrhaging in the hepatic tissue. Severe acute tubular necrosis and hydropic-vacuolar degeneration were observed in the kidneys. The clinical signs and pathological findings suggest envenomation due to a massive bee attack, the first such report for Psittacidae.

Anaphylactic shock with pulmonary eosinophilic infiltration due to honeybee attack in a donkey: case report

“…In contrast, animals with prolonged clinical signs present important renal lesions due to hypoxia caused by venom nephrotoxicity and hypotension by vasoactive components, both resulting in acute tubular necrosis (Ribeiro et al, 2020;Sakate, 2008). Despite a lack of laryngeal and tracheal lesions, cutaneous findings in the present case are similar to those previously reported, regardless of the animal species, as in dogs (Machado et al, 2018;Mughal et al, 2014;Nair et al, 2019;Souza, 2018), horses (Fonteque et al, 2018;Ribeiro et al, 2020;Veado et al, 2020), mules (Mahmoudi et al, 2014), ovines (Veado et al, 2020 and Psittacidae (Milbradt et al, 2017). Nevertheless, the other two horses reported here did not have further signs after treatment, maybe due to a greater resistance in contrast to reports of alopecia and skin necrosis at sting sites (Fonteque et al, 2018;Lewis and Racklyeft, 2014;Veado et al, 2020) or even skin shedding seven days after the stings (Caldas et al, 2013).…”

“…Interestingly, only one report of a honeybee attack in Psittacidae cites pulmonary eosinophilic infiltration (Milbradt et al, 2017). Lungs are described as the main organ for shock in horses (Tizard, 2014); thus, it is plausible that type I hypersensitivity and pulmonary changes were sufficient to result in this animal death, however apitoxin cardiotoxic is probably involved as well; mainly due to mild and clinically insignificant microscopic tubular epithelial necrosis in kidneys.…”

“…In equines, probable anaphylactic mediators are histamine and serotonin (Tizard, 2014). In Brazil, there are reports of honeybee attacks in various animal species (Caldas et al, 2013;Fonteque et al, 2018;Machado et al, 2018;Milbradt et al, 2017;Pessoa et al, 2014;Ribeiro et al, 2020;Souza, 2018;Veado et al, 2020), however, to the best of our knowledge, there are no reports of donkeys attacked by Africanized honeybees in this country, thus this paper aims to describe clinical and anatomic pathology changes in a case of anaphylactic shock due to few honeybee stings in a donkey.…”