Hawkins Michelle G, Blair Edith, Keel M Kevin, Horgan Molly D, Kelly Terra R, Guzman David Sanchez-Migallon, Seibert Brittany A, Zabka Tanja S, Lowenstine Linda J, Drazenovich Tracy, Nilsen Roger A, Barnum Samantha, Ritchie Branson W
Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA.
Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA.
Am J Vet Res. 2025 Jan 8;86(3). doi: 10.2460/ajvr.24.09.0277. Print 2025 Mar 1.
To describe the prevalence, clinical findings, lesions, and risk factors associated with chlamydial infections in free-ranging raptors presented to a university veterinary medical teaching hospital.
Medical records retrospectively searched for raptors admitted from January 1993 through April 2022 were tested for Chlamydia spp infections using quantitative PCR (qPCR), immunohistochemistry, culture, and sequencing. Findings were collected and analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression analyzed the association between Chlamydia spp infection status and risk factors, including age class, species, sex, and season of admission.
The prevalence for cases that tested positive for Chlamydia spp on 1 or more diagnostic tests, including mucosal qPCR samples for Chlamydia spp, tissue PCR for C buteonis, and mucosal qPCR genotyped as C buteonis, was 1.9% (74 of 3,983). All positive cases were from the genus Buteo (n = 74). Juvenile birds and winter season had higher odds of infection. All birds were in poor body condition (n = 74), often with moderate-to-severe CBC and biochemistry abnormalities consistent with multiorgan chronic inflammatory disease, emaciation, and dehydration. On postmortem examination of Chlamydia-positive birds (58 of 74), hepatitis (44 of 56), nephritis (24 of 39), splenitis (22 of 53), airsacculitis (21 of 43), myocarditis (21 of 39), and pneumonia (21 of 38) were common lesions, with intracellular bacteria in multiple tissues.
Signalment, season of admission, clinical signs, clinicopathologic findings, and Chlamydia-specific testing identified chlamydial infections in free-ranging raptors. Appropriate protections to prevent potential zoonotic transmission in clinical wildlife rehabilitation settings are recommended.
Many clinical parameters used to identify C psittaci infection in parrots can also be used to identify chlamydial infections in raptors.
描述送至一所大学兽医学院教学医院的野生猛禽衣原体感染的患病率、临床症状、病变及相关危险因素。
对1993年1月至2022年4月收治的猛禽病历进行回顾性研究，采用定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）、免疫组织化学、培养和测序检测衣原体属感染情况。收集并分析研究结果。多变量逻辑回归分析衣原体属感染状况与危险因素之间的关联，包括年龄组、物种、性别和入院季节。
在1项或多项诊断检测中衣原体属检测呈阳性的病例，包括衣原体属的黏膜qPCR样本、针对加州隼的组织PCR以及基因分型为加州隼的黏膜qPCR，患病率为1.9%（3983例中的74例）。所有阳性病例均来自鵟属（n = 74）。幼鸟和冬季感染几率更高。所有鸟类身体状况均较差（n = 74），常伴有中度至重度全血细胞计数和生化异常，与多器官慢性炎症性疾病、消瘦和脱水相符。对衣原体阳性鸟类进行尸检（74例中的58例）发现，肝炎（56例中的44例）、肾炎（39例中的24例）、脾炎（53例中的22例）、气囊炎（43例中的21例）、心肌炎（39例中的21例）和肺炎（38例中的21例）是常见病变，多个组织中存在细胞内细菌。
根据发病情况、入院季节、临床症状、临床病理检查结果及衣原体特异性检测可确诊野生猛禽的衣原体感染。建议在临床野生动物康复环境中采取适当防护措施，以防止潜在的人畜共患病传播。
许多用于识别鹦鹉中鹦鹉热衣原体感染的临床参数也可用于识别猛禽中的衣原体感染。
