title: Bilateral nocardial endophthalmitis in a prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea).
abstract: A 7-year-old captive female prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) died following chronic feather and weight loss. At necropsy, the right eye had a 2 x 2 x 1 mm corneal plaque of inspissated yellow-tan material and edema of the lower eyelid. Microscopically, both eyes exhibited diffuse, severe pyogranulomatous endophthalmitis with retinal necrosis and detachment. Numerous intralesional branching, gram-positive, beaded, filamentous bacteria formed a thick mat attached to the retinal pigmented epithelium and extending into the pecten. Bacteria were strongly acid-fast positive by Fite's stain but only occasionally acid-fast positive by Ziehl-Neelsen staining, a characteristic consistent with a Nocardia spp. Infected regions demonstrated positive in situ hybridization reactivity with a probe complementary to the 16S rRNA gene of Nocardia spp. There was no evidence of primary bacterial infection in the other organs examined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wolfe
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Camp
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Malarkey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D009877:Endophthalmitis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005123:Eye / Q000473:pathology*; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D009615:Nocardia / Q000235:genetics*; D009617:Nocardia Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D020308:Songbirds
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S