Necrotizing Hepatitis Associated with Clostridium perfringens in Broiler Chicks

In this retrospective study we describe unusual cases of clostridial hepatitis associated with high mortality in young broiler chicks. Eleven cases of necrotizing hepatitis in broiler chicks from four companies were submitted to the Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center or the Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network between 2017 and 2020. In most flocks, increased 3-day mortality was followed by an elevated 7-day mortality. Gross lesions included green to dark brown discoloration of the liver, congested lungs, serosanguineous fluid in the caudoventral aspect of the abdomen, and emphysema in the yolk sacs. In birds older than a week of age, disease with neurologic signs became evident and consisted of tremors, stargazing, and incoordination. Histopathologic evaluation revealed multifocal to coalescing fibrinoheterophilic and necrotizing hepatitis associated with gram-positive, long, rod-shaped bacteria. Formalin-fixed liver samples from six cases out of eight cases tested were positive for Clostridium perfringens by immunohistochemistry. Liver samples from two cases were culture positive for Clostridium spp., and C. perfringens was isolated from one sample. Toxinotyping by PCR performed in seven samples revealed the presence of the genes that code for alpha toxin phospholipase C (cpa or plc) and necrotic enteritis toxin B-like (netB) in six samples and as well as C. perfringens large cytotoxin (tpeL) in one sample. Broiler breeders are the suspected source of the infection, and testing revealed C. perfringens in hatchery samples and among broiler breeder flocks. Antimicrobial therapy was coupled with enhanced sanitation at the farm and hatchery in that company, markedly decreasing the mortality and clinical signs. This is the first comprehensive evaluation of clostridial necrotizing hepatitis in newly hatched chicks, and the second ever reported in the literature.