An abattoir study of pulmonary lesions in adult camels (Camelus dromedarius) from eastern region of Saudi Arabia

This study describes the gross and microscopic findings in the lungs of 450 adult camels at the AL-Ahsa abattoir (352 male and 98 female). The study showed that 14.7% of the examined lungs had one or more lesions. The most common lesions were pneumoconiosis with dilation of the alveoli 12 (17.91%), pulmonary fibrosis 9 (13.43%) and hydatid cysts 33 (49.25%). In addition various inflammatory lesions including acute mucous bronchopneumonia 2, (2.98%), chronic bronchial pneumonia 1 (1.49%), lung nodules 1 (1.49%), and lung oedema 3 (4.47%) were observed. Moreover secondary cancers, represented by malignant lymphoma 3 (4.47%) , malignant epithelial cell tumour 2 (2.98) %, and Malignant fibroblastoma 1 (1.49%) were seen. Possible explanations for the occurrence of the pulmonary lesions are discussed and the necessary recommendations are made.