title: Pulmonary aspergillosis outbreak in Rhea americana in southern Brazil.
abstract: Commercial raising of rheas is currently in expansion in the south of Brazil, and many diseases previously restricted to other avian species are currently emerging on rhea farms, especially as a result of careless management of these animals. The objective of the present article is to report a pulmonary aspergillosis outbreak that occurred in great rhea (Rhea americana) in the south of Brazil. About 50 birds aged 30 to 60 days died suddenly and one of them was submitted to autopsy which revealed the presence of white caseous nodules 0.5 mm in diameter occupying 95% of the lung area. One lung was sent to the Federal University of Santa Maria for histopathological and mycological analyses. Histopathological analysis revealed multifocal areas with necrosis and inflammatory infiltrates and the presence of fungal hyphae, giant cells and fibrous tissue proliferation at the periphery. Aspergillus fumigatus was recovered as pure culture from all culture media. This appears to be the first report of aspergillosis among great rhea in Brazil and the second in the world.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Pesquisas Micológicas, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brasil.
authors.forename: Marina V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Copetti
authors.forename: Stefanie D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Segabinazi
authors.forename: Maristela L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Flores
authors.forename: Sydney H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.forename: Janio M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Santurio
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D001232:Aspergillus fumigatus / Q000254:growth & development*; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D001938:Brazil; D006651:Histocytochemistry / Q000662:veterinary; D008172:Lung Diseases, Fungal / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D020311:Rheiformes