Pathological and bacteriological study of bumblefoot cases in Sulaimaniyah province

Various aspects of the environmental status were explored in a farm of broiler breeders “Ross 308” in Al Sulaimaniyah city, Iraq, suffering from bumblefoot lesion, to check out the management, dietary and hygienic conditions that could be responsible for initiation of this lesion. For pathological and bacteriological investigations, 15 hens and 7 roosters were randomly selected out of 5300 chickens suffering from the bumblefoot in the concerned farm. Exploring the environmental status of the farm showed that the chickens were bred under crowded condition in humid weather on a thick, muddy litter, were feeding commercial layer ration not subjected to quality control confirmation and were allowed to lay their eggs in laying nests with sharp-edged perches. The pathological examination showed abscess foci and ulcers of various diameters and depths on the affected feet and some of the ulcers were associated with a gangrenous appearance. In some of these chickens, the first toe was partially lost, most probably due to a previous gangrenous ulceration. Microscopically, ulcerative epithelial damage, hyperkeratosis and suppuration were seen associated with marked fibrovascular granulation tissue response in the dermis. A total of 28 facultatively anaerobic bacterial isolates were recovered from only 16 out of the 22 diseased chickens that were sampled in the current study. These bacterial isolates were belonging to three species; Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Proteus mirabilis.