title: An outbreak of blindness due to retinopathy in nine flocks of guinea fowl.
abstract: Blindness was observed in 10- to 14-day-old guinea fowl. The incidence ranged from 25% to 80% in nine flocks within a total population of 110,000 guinea fowls. Clinical signs of blindness in birds included aimless wandering, failure to find feed and water, lateral recumbency, loss of weight, and increased mortality. The birds lacked papillary reflexes to light, and there were no gross lesions in the eyes. Histologically there was degeneration and disorganization of photoreceptors in the retina. The guinea fowl came from three different breeder sources but all of the birds were given the same feed. The condition was not observed in the subsequent flocks that came from the same breeder sources but that were given different feed. Based on these observations, toxicity of an unknown ingredient in the feed is suspected as the cause of blindness in the guinea fowl.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Cecchinato
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Lupini
authors: P G
authors: PG
authors: Bolognesi
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Marzadori
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Raffini
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Frasnelli
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Poppi
authors: H L
authors: HL
authors: Shivaprasad
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Catelli
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D001766:Blindness / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D056833:Central Serous Chorioretinopathy / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D046094:Galliformes; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*