ACUTE PULMONARY SARCOCYSTIS FALCATULA-LIKE INFECTION IN THREE VICTORIA CROWNED PIGEONS (GOURA VICTORIA) HOUSED INDOORS

Three free-roaming Victoria crowned pigeons (Goura victoria) housed in a completely enclosed tropical exhibit were found dead without antemortem signs of illness. The birds died within 9 days of each other. Gross necropsy revealed moderate pulmonary edema in all three birds. Histopathologic examinat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of zoo and wildlife medicine 2001-06, Vol.32 (2), p.252-256
Main Authors: Suedmeyer, WmKirk, Bermudez, Alex J, Barr, Bradd C, Marsh, Antoinette E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute Disease
Animals
Animals, Zoo
Autopsy - veterinary
Bird Diseases - parasitology
Bird Diseases - pathology
Birds
CASE REPORTS
Columbidae - parasitology
Didelphis virginiana
Fatal Outcome
Female
Goura victoria
Horticultural soils
Housing, Animal
Immunohistochemistry - veterinary
Infections
Lung - parasitology
Lung - pathology
Lung Diseases, Parasitic - diagnosis
Lung Diseases, Parasitic - pathology
Lung Diseases, Parasitic - veterinary
Male
Merozoites
Opossums
Parasitism
Pigeons
Pulmonary edema
Pulmonary Edema - parasitology
Pulmonary Edema - pathology
Pulmonary Edema - veterinary
Sarcocystis - isolation & purification
Sarcocystis falcatula
Sarcocystosis - diagnosis
Sarcocystosis - pathology
Sarcocystosis - veterinary
Soil - parasitology
Soil pollution
Victoria crowned pigeon
Virginia opossum
Zoos
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Summary:Three free-roaming Victoria crowned pigeons (Goura victoria) housed in a completely enclosed tropical exhibit were found dead without antemortem signs of illness. The birds died within 9 days of each other. Gross necropsy revealed moderate pulmonary edema in all three birds. Histopathologic examination revealed pulmonary edema and pulmonary protozoal merozoites compatible with Sarcocystis spp., Toxoplasma gondii, or Neospora spp. infection. Immunohistochemical staining for T. gondii and Neospora spp. were negative. Immunohistochemical staining identified a Sarcocystis falcatula-like parasite in all three birds. It is suspected that new exhibit soil contaminated with feces from the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) was the source of the infective sporocysts.
ISSN:1042-7260
1937-2825
DOI:10.1638/1042-7260(2001)032[0252:APSFLI]2.0.CO;2