An outbreak of duck meningo-encephalitis in Bangladesh Rahman M.H.1,*, Nooruzzaman M.1, Rahman S.1, Islam O.1, Hossain M.M.1, Hossain M.I.1 1Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh *Corresponding author: e-mail: rahmanmdhabib@gmail.com
Abstract An outbreak of duck meningo-encephalitis caused by unknown pathogens was observed in egg laying Jinding ducks in the southern part of Bangladesh. Out of 500 ducks in a farm, 160 died in a short span of four weeks. The ducks exhibited dullness, mucopurulent nasal discharge and laid eggs without formation of egg shell. Thus, cloaca remained soiled with yolk and morbidity was found to be highest in the adults and egg laying birds. Grossly, there had been little changes in the internal organs. However, cerebral swelling was one of the major findings on post-mortem examination and frequent detection of congestion in the meninges. Microscopic lesions included Purkinje cell degeneration with disorganized Purkinje cell layer which was devoid of nucleus and condensed cytoplasmic materials indicating persistent Purkinje cell loss in the cerebellum. The brain and meninges demonstrated that all infected ducks had died of meningo-encephalitis of unknown etiology. Top Keywords Jinding ducks, Pathology, Meningo-encephalitis. Top |