Fatal-associated meningoencephalitis in 2 captive vulturine guineafowl.

Abstract

Two captive vulturine guineafowl () were presented with lethargy, hyporexia, weight loss, and progressive neurologic signs. One of the guineafowl was seropositive for(1:50 dilution). Both guineafowl died within 5 d of presentation. Histologic examination revealed nonsuppurative meningoencephalitis with gliosis, associated with occasional schizonts in the neuropil. Using fresh-frozen brain tissue, PCR was performed to amplify the ITS1 RNA region and portions of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene (18S gene) and the 28S ribosomal RNA gene (28S gene). Analysis of nucleic acid sequences from the resulting amplicons indicated thatwas the likely cause of disease. To our knowledge,-associated disease has not been reported previously in the order.