Clinicopathological Changes of Experimentally Induced Fowl Cholera in Jinding Ducks

Clinicopathological changes of duck cholera were studied in 16-week-old 10 susceptible ( PHA titre≤8.00 ) Jinding breed ducks during the period from October 2002 to March 2003. Each of the experimental duck was inoculated with a virulent chicken isolate of Pasteurella multocida @ 5.4 x 106 CFU / ml per bird intramuscularly. The incubation period varied from 12 to 48 hours with 100% mortality rate between 24 to 72 hours of infection. These affected ducks showed clinical signs of fever, anorexia, dullness, depression, ruffled feathers, severe weakness, drowsiness, whitish diarrhoea with mucus, exudation from eyes, lameness and unable to hold the head with beak touching the ground before death. Necropsy examination of the dead ducks showed septicaemic conditions, blood vascular congestion, haemorrhagic enteritis, increased amount of pericardial and peritoneal fluids, swollen and sometimes congested liver with multiple necrotic foci on the parietal surface, enlarged and edematous heart with echymotic haemorrhages. Trachea and lungs were severely congested and haemorrhagic and serofibrinous exudates were seen in the lung, liver and heart. The P. multocida organism was reisolated from the swabs of liver and heart of all the dead ducks by standard bacteriological techniques. This study was confirmed the virulence and pathogenicity of chicken isolate of P. multocida in ducks.Key words: Experimental infection; Duck cholera; pathogenicity; clinicopathological changes DOI = 10.3329/bjvm.v1i1.1910 Bangl. J. Vet. Med. (2008). 1(1): 09-13