Air Sac Cystadenoma in a Pet Chicken.

A 2-yr-old female Brahma chicken was presented to the Poultry Mobile Clinic of the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University with a 3-wk onset of a wet sneeze that progressed to wheezing with a whistle-type sound. Upon observation, a cyst was found above the left clavicle in the area around the crop. The bird was euthanatized due to the progressive and chronic nature of the symptoms. Postmortem examination revealed an ovoid, soft to fluctuant, smooth, pale brown mass (2 × 0.9 × 0.8 cm), encased within the cranial membrane of the left cervical air sac. Histologically, focally expanding the left cervical air sac was a pedunculated, nonencapsulated, well-demarcated, moderately cellular neoplasm that consisted of cuboidal cells predominantly arranged in variably sized cystic structures lined by a single layer of cells. Neoplastic cells have strong cytoplasmic immunolabeling against cytokeratin AE1/AE3. Gross and histologic findings were consistent with an air sac cystadenoma. Primary respiratory neoplasia in birds is infrequent. Air sac carcinomas, adenocarcinomas, and cystadenocarcinomas have been described in Psittaciformes, Columbiformes, Falconiformes, and Cuculiformes. Benign air sac tumors are poorly documented, and detailed descriptions of this neoplasm in poultry literature are lacking.

Reporte de caso- Cistadenoma en los sacos aéreos de un pollo mascota. Una gallina Brahma de dos años fue remitida al Servicio Ambulatorio de Avicultura de traspatio de la Universidad Estatal de Carolina del Norte debido a la presentación de un cuadro clínico de estornudos que progresó a la emisión de ruidos respiratorios tipo silbido en el curso de tres semanas. Se observó un quiste de 2-3 cm de diámetro en el área de la clavícula izquierda alrededor del buche. A dicha ave se le practicó la eutanasia debido a la naturaleza progresiva de los signos. El examen post mortem reveló una masa, ovalada, suave y fluctuante, de color café pálido, de 2 cm × 0.9 cm × 0.8 cm, contenida en la membrana craneal del saco aéreo cervical izquierdo. Histológicamente la pared del saco aéreo cervical izquierdo estaba reemplazada por una neoplasia no encapsulada, pedunculada, bien demarcada, compuesta de células cuboidales organizadas en múltiples estructuras quísticas de tamaño variable y recubiertas por una monocapa celular. Las células neoplásicas poseían una fuerte immunorreactividad citoplasmática para citoqueratina AE1/AE3. Los hallazgos macroscópicos y microscópicos son consistentes con un cistoadenoma de sacos aéreos. En aves, las neoplasias primarias de origen respiratorio son infrecuentes. Carcinomas, adenocarcinomas, y cistoadenocarcinomas de sacos aéreos se han reportado en Psitaciformes, Columbiformes, Falconiformes y Cuculiformes. Los tumores benignos de sacos aéreos han sido escasamente documentados y se carece de descripciones detalladas de estas neoplasias en gallináceas en la literatura.

Unraveling the Contact Network Patterns between Commercial Turkey Operation in North Carolina and the Distribution of Salmonella Species.

Salmonellosis originating from poultry poses a significant threat to human health. Surveillance within production is thus needed to minimize risk. The objectives of this work were to investigate the distribution of Salmonella spp. from a commercial turkey operation and describe the animal movement patterns to investigate the association between contact network structure and Salmonella infection status. Four years of routine growout farm samples along with data on facility location, time since barns were built, production style, and bird movement data were utilized. From all of the surveillance samples collected, Salmonella serotyping was performed on positive samples and results showed that the most represented groups were C1 (28.67%), B (24.37%) and C2 (17.13%). The serovar Infantis (26.44%) was the most highly represented, followed by Senftenberg (12.76%) and Albany (10.93%). Results illustrated the seasonality of Salmonella presence with a higher number of positive samples being collected in the second half of each calendar year. We also demonstrated that Salmonella was more likely to occur in samples from older farms compared to farms built more recently. The contact network connectivity was low, although a few highly connected farms were identified. Results of the contact network showed that the farms which tested positive for Salmonella were not clustered within the network, suggesting that even though Salmonella dissemination occurs via transferring infected birds, for this study case it is unlikely the most important route of transmission. In conclusion, this study identified seasonality of Salmonella with significantly more cases in the second half of each year and also uncovered the role of between-farm movement of birds as not a major mode of Salmonella transmission.