Spontaneous Tuberculosis Cases In Two Pigeon Flocks

Abstract

In this study, a 2-year-old female rock pigeon and two 4-month-old tumbler domestic pigeon brought to Erciyes University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology, for necropsy were diagnosed as tuberculosis. On the macroscopic examination, several nodules with yellowish colour were seen in the pulmonary sections as well as in the rock pigeon. The grey-yellowish nodules were found on the right wings (1 x 1.5 x 0.8 cm in size), the liver surface and the jejunum in the small intestine (with a size ranging from 0.5-1 mm to 1 cm) and near the craw (0.3 x 0.8 cm in size) of the one tumbler pigeon. In other, grey-yellowish nodular structures were seen in the lungs 1 x 1.2 x 0.5 cm and 0.5 x 0.7 x 0.6 cm in the liver. Histopathological examination showed that these lesions were tuberculous lesions consisting of homogeneous eosinophilic colourized casein necrosis, surrounding multi-nucleated giant cells, epithelioid histiocytes, histiocytes, lymphocytes and, most extensively, typical tubercles with a fibrous capsule. According to In the Ziehl-Neelsen staining, tuberculous bacillus was not observed in the tissue of rock pigeon, while tuberculous bacillus was found in a large number of dense red in tubercle structures in both of the tumbler pigeons. Because of the zoonotic nature of the agent and the risk of contamination, it was evaluated as a case report.