Aspergillosis in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

Aspergillosis in quail was diagnosed based on postmortem lesions, histopathology and cultural characterization of isolated organisms. Grossly, yellowish white nodular growth was seen in lungs and intercostal areas with thickened air sacs. Histopathologically, lungs showed severe congestion with focal haemorrhages, multiple granulomatous inflammation with caesative necrotic areas in centre. Various fungal elements like conidia, long septate hyphae with mononuclear and heterophilic infiltration were seen in these areas. Microbiological study revealed velvety bluish green colony of Aspergillus on SDA, which was identified as Aspergillus fumigatus upon microscopic examination using lacto phenol cotton blue staining.