Pathological changes on naturally occuring necrotic enteritis in chicken

닭의 괴사성 장염에 대한 병리학적 연구

From January of 1991 to December of 1992, 42 chickens collected from 21 poultry farms and also diagnosed as necrotic enteritis(NE) was examined clinical signs, gross and histopathological findings. Main clinical signs were characterized by decreased appetite, mild to severe depression, reductance to move, ruffled feathers, greenish to yellow-browinish diarrhea sometimes including blood. As progressed, diseased chickens showed feces mixed with necrotic debris which detached from the intestinal mucosa and mostly resulted in the death. In chronic cases, there were dirty feathers around cloaca due to diarrhea and notably retarded growth. Principle gross lesions were usually confined to the jejunum and ileum, especially toward the lower part of Meckel's diverticulum. The part of small intestine was frequently distended with gas, and also showed mucosal congestion and hemorrhages with varying degrees. Sometimes, the intestinal mucosa was thickened, and also covered with fibronecrotic psuedomembrane. In addition, there were focal necrosis and severely multifocal ulcreation in the mucosa of small intestine. Major histopathological findings included villous necrosis and erosion of the small intestine covering with lots of bacterial colonies, inflammatory cell infiltration in the lamina propria, and dilatation and hyperplasia of crypts. Luminal exudate contained bacterial colonies, fibrin, erythrocytes, and desquamated epithelium. Thirteen(61.9%) out of 21 NE-occurring farms were complicated with intestinal coccidiosis.