Enzootic outbreak of necrotic gastritis associated with Clostridium perfringens in broiler chickens

Ivan Dinev Ivanov (1)

1 Common and Clinical Pathology of Animals

Clinical morphological investigations were carried out in a flock of 22,000 Ross 308 broiler chickens at the age of 38 days, that experienced a sudden increase in mortality rates. The morbidity and mortality rates were followed out. A gross anatomical examination of 150 bodies (7%) of all 1541 dead chickens was performed. In all necropsied birds, without exception, the typical macroscopic lesions were observed only in the gizzard. Focal or diffuse pseudomembranous deposits were found out subcuticularly, on gizzard mucous coat. Microscopically, hyalinization, desquamated epithelial cells and single foci of microorganisms were present among the formed pseudomembranes. Among the fibrin networks of coagulated exudate, single bacilli were detected. C. perfringens was isolated from all studied gastric samples. Genotyping of the isolate has been achieved using PCR test. The PCR tests were positive for α toxin and negative for β and β2 toxin.

Mots clés: Life Sciences

Ivan Dinev Ivanov. Enzootic outbreak of necrotic gastritis associated with Clostridium perfringens in broiler chickens. Avian Pathology, 2010, 39 (01), pp.7-10. ⟨10.1080/03079450903431382⟩. ⟨hal-00557318⟩