Bacteriological and Histopathological Evaluation of Articulations of Chickens Diagnosed with Arthritis

RG Garcia,ASA Assunción,FR Caldara,GF De Oliveira,RA Matins,A Marcon,AV Marcon,C Crone

doi:10.1590/1806-9061-2018-0805

RG Garcia, ASA Assunción + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9061-2018-0805

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Abstract

ABSTRAT Arthritis implies inflammation of the intra-articular structures and is one of the causes of condemnation in broilers. The disease is associated with infectious agents such as Staphylococcus aureus, which may pose a potential public health risk. This work was conducted with the objective to determine the occurrence of arthritis in broiler chickens, predominantly of bacterial staphylococcal origin and if there is a difference between the degrees of injury regarding the presence of the bacterium and the histological lesion. Sixty samples of chickens diagnosed with arthritis by Federal Inspection Service from commercial slaughterhouse were collected according to their severity (of mild and severe degree) and submitted to bacteriological and histopathological analysis. There was bacterial growth of Staphylococcus aureus in 3.3% of the samples classified as mild degree in 10% of the samples classified as severe grade of lesion (p=0,29). For histopathological evaluation, 16.67% and 70% of the samples presented inflammatory infiltrate in mild and severe degrees, respectively (p=0,0001). Mild degree arthritis is related to non-infectious lesions in their higher prevalence while severe-grade arthritis has infectious causes. The condemnation criteria were efficient since S. aureus could be present regardless of the degree of the lesion diagnosed in arthritis.

Highlights

Locomotive disorders can be classified according to the underlying pathology as infectious, developmental and degenerative
Of the 60 samples analyzed, there was bacterial growth for Staphylococcus aureus in 3.3% of the mild degree and 10% in the severe degree
There was no difference for S. aureus growth between the samples classified in mild and severe degree arthritis (p=0.29) (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Locomotive disorders can be classified according to the underlying pathology as infectious, developmental and degenerative. Infectious arthritis in broilers is of paramount importance because it causes economic losses of great impact due to the reduction of productivity, besides representing a sanitary problem (Reck et al, 2012) and is one of the main causes of condemnation of birds in slaughterhouses (Moura et al 2012; Oliveira et al, 2016). Staphylococcus aureus is known to cause septic arthritis in poultry with significant economic losses and may pose a potential public health risk (Nazia et al, 2015). This agent has high affinity for collagen-rich surfaces, such as the articular surfaces of joints, and synovial sheaths around joints and tendons (Joiner et al, 2005). Arthritis or polyarthritis is defined in the condemnation as swelling of one (arthritis) or both (polyarthritis) of the knees (Lupo et al, 2008)

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