PASTEURELLA-MULTOCIDA INFECTION INVOLVING CRANIAL AIR SPACES IN WHITELEGHORN CHICKENS

Seven 18-wk-old pullers from a commercial layer flock experiencing inc reased mortality associated with neurologic and respiratory symptoms w ere submitted to the California Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Syste m at the Turlock Branch for necropsy Clinical signs included depressio n, torticollis, swollen eyelids, conjunctivitis, and sinusitis. Mening oencephalitis and suppurative inflammation of the cranial air spaces w ere found on histopathology. The brain, sinuses, and air spaces of the cranium were infected with Pasteurella multocida. Complicating the co ndition was Mycoplasma gallisepticum infecting the sinus and paramyxov irus-1 affecting the trachea.