Outbreak of an unknown epidemic in ducks in Bangladesh Rahman M.H.1,*, Hossain Mokbul1, Hossain Iqbal1, Chowdhury E.H.1 1Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh *Corresponding author: e-mail: rahmanmdhabib@gmail.com
Abstract In Bangladesh, in 2016 a disease outbreak was recorded in an epidemic form involving young, pullets and egg laying duck flocks. Clinical features were very distinct in the affected birds with a morbidity level <90% with circling gait and torticollis in the young, cessation of egglaying for three to five weeks. On post-mortem examination, haemorrhagic ovaritis was the main alteration recorded in the laying ducks with prolapse of cloaca in the dead female. Histo-pathologically, changes were mainly haemorrhages which was characterized by homogenous eosinophilic content in the Graafian follicles with no infiltration of reactive cells outside the follicular tissues. Examination of cloacal swabs and or blood serum were found to be negative for Avain influenza and Newcastle disease. These ducks received all available routine vaccines against duck cholera and duck plague and drugs, but most of the affected flocks were destroyed due to the outbreaks. It was not possible to isolate any virus, however, these findings demonstrate emergence of a new virus in exotic duck breeds. Top Keywords Bangladesh, Duck, Hemorrhagic ovaritis, Pathology, Unknown etiology. Top |