Disseminated visceral coccidiosis in whooping cranes
Carpenter, J.W.; Spraker, T.R.; Novilla, M.N.
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 177(9): 845-848
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0003-1488 PMID: 7451323 Document Number: 164648
Three 13-18 day old whooping cranes (G. americana), and a 9 yr old whooping crane died in outdoor pens at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Maryland, USA. The deaths were associated with an overwhelming systemic infection by an intracellular protozoan parasite, which resulted in enteritis, granulomatous bronchopneumonia, hepatitis, splenitis, and myocarditis. The clinical, histopathologic, and EM findings were similar to those in sandhill cranes (G. canadensis) at the Patuxent Center infected with Eimeria reichenowi and E. gruis. Since these eimerian species also parasitize wild whooping cranes, this parasite might be an important pathogenic agent for this species.