Case report of misdiagnosis of Avian Colibacillosis in laying Birds

Two freshly dead 27 weeks old Issa brown laying birds from a population of about 3000 birds with history of blindness, greenish-whitish diarrhoea, symptomatic diagnosis of coccidiosis, treatment failure, reduced egg lay and increased mortality was presented for postmortem examination and diagnosis. Postmortem examination revealed air sacculitis, egg peritonitis, misshapen ova with injected blood vessels and petechial haemorrhages in the epicardium, coronary, abdominal and intestinal fats and cecal tonsils. Diagnosis of colibacillosis was based on isolation and identification of pure cultures of Escherichia coli from cultured samples following standard procedure. Antibiotic sensitivity result showed that the isolate was resistant to ampicillin, nalidixic acid and gentamicin, but susceptible to ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin and sulphamethoxazole-trimethoprim. Treatment was achieved by oral administration of enrofloxacin at the dose of 0.1mg/ml for 7 days with daily water renewal. Egg lay increased from 24% to 70% five days into treatment. This report has shown that symptomatic diagnosis of colibacillosis in layers results to misdiagnosis, mistreatment, treatment failure and great economic loss.Keywords: Escherichia coli, Avian colibacillosis, Misdiagnosis, Multidrug resistance, Laying poultry birds, Issa brow