Khaled Kaboudi1*, Abdelkader Amara2, Asma Yamoun1

Abstract | Nephropathies in fowl are common and causing economic losses with high mortality and decrease in growth rate. Etiology of renal affections varies. Many viruses, bacteria, parasites, toxins and metabolic factors are in general incriminated. This study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence of renal lesions in 877 examined birds, received at the avian clinic of the National Veterinary Medicine School of Tunisia between 2012 and 2016. Necropsy was completed by histopathological and bacteriological analysis for a better orientation of the diagnosis. Animals were issued from commercial and free-range flocks located in the North-East of Tunisia. Global prevalence of renal lesions was 17.56% (154 animals: 79 from free-range flocks; 75 from commercial flocks), with a significant higher prevalence in >18 weeks group (20.40%), compared to young birds (<18 weeks) (15.73%) (χ2=3.158; p<0.05). Gross pathology study showed a predominance of vascular lesions (congestion, hemorrhage) (81.82%) followed by cellular lesions (hypertrophy, atrophy, steatosis, deposit urates, acute interstitial nephritis) (66.88%). Tumor infiltration was showed in 5.20% of cases. Viral diseases (47.6%) predominate suspicions, followed by metabolic disorders (29.21%) and bacterial infections (23.38%). Histopathological investigations showed nonspecific lesions, expected of tumor lymphoid infiltrations, which are compatible with Marek’s disease. Our findings in this first report showed that renal lesions occurred in Tunisian free range and commercial poultry flocks. Kidney damages can be primary or secondary to other diseases. Diagnosis of renal affections in poultry needs epidemiological, clinical, necropsy and laboratory investigations.

Keywords | Kidney, Gross pathology, Histopathology, Nephritis, Fowl, Tunisia