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18 August 2021 Leucocytozoon caulleryi in Broiler Chicken Flocks: Clinical, Hematologic, Histopathologic, and Molecular Detection
Ahmed R. Elbestawy, Hany F. Ellakany, Hatem S. Abd El-Hamid, Ahmed R. Gado, Amr M. Geneedy, Ahmed E. Noreldin, Soad Menshawy, Mahmoud El-Neweshy, Nahed A. El-Shall, Ahmed H. Salaheldin
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Abstract

Despite the vast Egyptian poultry production, scanty information is available concerning the infection of haemprotozoan parasites as pathogens in commercial broilers. In the present study, we provided the first detection of leucocytozoonosis in five broiler chicken flocks in El-Beheira Egyptian governorate. Despite the low mortality rates in the affected flocks (0.3%–1% as a 5-day mortality), severe postmortem (hemorrhagic spots and scars) and histopathologic lesions appeared in different organs including skeletal muscles, liver, kidney, pancreas, abdominal cavity, and bursa of Fabricius. Evaluation of blood smears revealed gametocytes in erythrocytes and leukocytes. Conventional reverse transcriptase-PCR and partial sequence analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase b gene detected Leucocytozoon caulleryi. GenBank accession numbers of the five Egyptian L. caulleryi isolates were obtained. The five L. caulleryi were 99.9% identical to each other and 99.14% similar to the L. caulleryi mitochondrial DNA gene of Asian strains from India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Ahmed R. Elbestawy, Hany F. Ellakany, Hatem S. Abd El-Hamid, Ahmed R. Gado, Amr M. Geneedy, Ahmed E. Noreldin, Soad Menshawy, Mahmoud El-Neweshy, Nahed A. El-Shall, and Ahmed H. Salaheldin "Leucocytozoon caulleryi in Broiler Chicken Flocks: Clinical, Hematologic, Histopathologic, and Molecular Detection," Avian Diseases 65(3), 407-413, (18 August 2021). https://doi.org/10.1637/0005-2086-65.3.407
Received: 10 January 2021; Accepted: 17 June 2021; Published: 18 August 2021
KEYWORDS
chickens
haemoprotozoan
histopathology
Leucocytozoon caulleryi
molecular diagnosis
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