Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae septicaemia in translocated kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) (abstract)

Authors: Mack HJ, Gartrell BD, McInnes CM, Alley MR
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 53, Issue 1, pp 94, Feb 2005
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Avian, Wildlife
Subject Terms: Bacterial, Disease/defect, Infectious disease, Mortality/morbidity, Sepsis/infection
Article class: Abstract

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Abstract: Three juvenile kakapo in a group of 18 birds died shortly after translocation from Codfish Island to Chalky Island in Fiordland. At necropsy, the birds had a swollen, irregularly reddened liver, which in one case had thin strands of fibrin on the surface. The spleen was swollen and reddened and in two of the birds there was excess watery, blood-stained fluid in the proximal jejunum but no evidence of diarrhoea. Histologically, accumulation of mononuclear inflammatory cells was evident around hepatic blood vessels in all three birds, and there were large numbers of pleomorphic Gram-positive rods within the cytoplasm of Kupffer cells. Similar bacteria were present within splenic histiocytes and some renal endothelial cells. Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, cultured from the liver, kidney and spleen of affected birds, was resistant to penicillin but sensitive to amoxycillin/clavulanic acid, enrofloxacin and tetracycline. Subsequent investigation revealed Erysipelothrix spp in the bone marrow of the carcasses of 11/24 seabirds on Codfish Island, suggesting this may have been the source of infection.

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