Erysipelas in a free-ranging Hawaiian crow (Corvus hawaiiensis).
We describe a case of erysipelas in a free-ranging endangered Hawaiian crow. The partially scavenged carcass exhibited gross emaciation and petechial hemorrhages in both lungs. Microscopy revealed multiple necrotic foci associated with gram-positive rods in the liver and adrenal, diffuse acute proximal tubular necrosis of kidney, diffuse necrosis and inflammation of proventricular mucosa associated with gram-positive rods, and multiple intravascular aggregates of gram-positive rods associated with thrombi. Culture of the kidney revealed the bacterium to be Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae. The implications of this finding to free-ranging crows remain unclear.
U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, National Wildlife Health Center, Honolulu, HI 96850, USA.
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D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D004886:Erysipelas / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D020308:Songbirds