Systemic Aspergillosis in Emu Chicks in an organised farm in Kerala

Systematic post mortem examination was carried out on seven Emu chicks submitted for disease diagnosis to Clinical Laboratory, District Veterinary Centre, Palakkad. On examination, numerous small greyish white nodules were seen in the lungs, air sacs, kidney and serosal surface of proventriculus. Dark red liver with necrotic areas and dark coloured spleen were the other lesions. Microscopically the lungs revealed granulomas with central areas of caseation surrounded by mononuclear cells and fibroblasts. PAS positive fungal hyphae could be seen in the lesion. Aspergillus fumigatus could be isolated in Sabouraud Dextrose Agar from the lesions. This is the first report on the occurrence of systemic aspergillosis in Emus from Kerala