Clinicopathology and diagnosis of Marek's disease and coccidiosis co-infection in Giriraja chicken in Manipur

Abstract

Clinico-pathological study was undertaken to investigate the outbreak of bloody diarrhoea and high mortalityin Giriraja chicken in the Poultry Farm, Department of Animal Sciences, College of Agriculture, CAU, Imphal, Manipur during July, 2007. Clinically, the affected birds showed loss of appetite, unthriftiness, emaciation, ruffled feathers, bloody diarrhea with mucus, while some birds showed additional signs of ataxia, paralysis of legs, wings, neck and subsequent unilateral paralysis of extremities resulting in typical posture of one leg stretched forward and other backward. Necropsy examination revealed anaemic pale musculature, distended small intestines and haemorrhages onmucosa and sub-mucosa. Most of the birds showed enlargement of the liver with granular appearances and formation of lymphoid nodular lesions, while some birds with signs of leg paralysis had enlarged sciatic nerves with loss of cross-striations. Examination of the mucosal scraping from intestine showed numerous oocysts of Eimeria spp. Histopathological examination showed severe haemorrhagic enteritis with necrosis and degeneration of of glandular epithelial cells. Several schizonts were visible in the epithelial cells along with merozoites and infiltrating heterophils and eosinophils. The liver section revealed pleomorphic lymphoid cells proliferation replacingthe parenchymatous cells. Marek's disease was confirmed by detection of the viral antigen with the help of AGPT.