Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Biotechnology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal sciences, Bikaner (India)
Online published on 19 December, 2013.
This study was carried out on camels which died in an outbreak with clinical symptoms of respiratory disease including high fever, loss of appetite, depression, cough and a watery nasal discharge that became mucopurulent at a later stage with high morbidity but low mortality (20–30%). A post-mortem examination was conducted on three camels and representative samples were collected from lungs for histopathological examination and thoracic fluid for microbiology. The necropsy examination revealed presence of numerous minute greyish-white necrotic foci, hemorrhages, acute congestion, pulmonary oedema and swollen associated lymph nodes of respiratory system. Histological examination revealed extensive congestion in alveolar vessels, large area of coagulative necrosis, capillary hyperemia, acute serofibrinious exudate in alveoli and bronchi with many inflammatory cells. Microbiological analysis of thoracic fluid revealed mix bacterial infection including Pasteurella haemolytica, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus spp., Diplococcus spp. and Enterobacter spp. In the present outbreak Pasteurella haemolytica was considered the main cause of mortality as it was correlated well with the clinical signs and environmental changes which included sudden drop in the temperature.
