PIROPLASMOSIS OF THE DOMESTIC FOWL IN NORTHERN INDIA
By M. ABDUSSALAM, Punjab Veterinary College, Lahore
(Received for publication on 10 June 1943)
(With Plate I)
THE available literature shows that
avian piroplasmosis has been only rarely
and doubtfully recorded in India, the
earliest reference to the subject being that
by Lingard and Jennings [1904] who
claimed to have seen pyroplasms in the
blood of the British breeds of fowls in
this country. Since these authors have
not mentioned anything about the mor-
phology of the parasite encountered by
them, it is difficult to judge whether they
were actually dealing with what is now
known as Aegyptianella pullorum Carpano,
or with some other haematozoon. The
symptoms reported, such as anorexia,
drowsiness, purplish comb, malaise and
general indisposition, are also too general
to be diagnostic of piroplasmosis and are
common to many other poultry diseases.
While studying spirochaetosis of im-
ported and local breeds of fowls in Sudan,
Balfour [1907; 1908—1,2 1909 and 1911]
encountered an 'after-phase' of the disease
in birds from whose blood the spirochaetes
had disappeared; this phase was charac-
terized by the appearance in red blood
corpuscles of rounded intra-corpuscular
bodies, which, he thought, might be latent
forms of spirochaetes. The nature of these
bodies and their relationship to spirochae-
tosis have been the subject of much discus-
sion, but they have since been definitely
identified as a species of poultry piro-
plasm and in 1929 Carpano designated them
as Aegyptianella pullorum. Earlier wor-
kers on avian spirochaetosis in India
[Reaney, 1907 and Montgomery, 1908] do
not seem to have encountered 'Balfour's
bodies' (or an after-phase of the disease)
but Knowles, Das Gupta and Basu [1927]
recorded the occurrence of these bodies in
birds recovered from experimental infec-
tion and also in healthy fowls purchased
from the Calcutta bazar where the natural
infection of the disease did not exist. These
authors dismissed the intra-corpuscular
bodies as products of 'Karyorrhexis of the
erythrocyte nuclei, poisoned by the toxins
of the disease' and the mortality appa-
rently associated with the occurrence of
these bodies was ascribed by them to
'crowding of the fowls in cages and much
handling of them by sweepers and labo-
ratory attendants.' In a more elaborate
communication, these authors [1932] re-
ported further observations in support of
the foregoing theory and claimed to have
produced similar bodies in the red blood
cells by injections of toxic substances like
phenyl hydrazine and benzyl benzoate.
They did not, however, explain the spon-
taneous appearance of these bodies in the
absence of spirochaetes and do not seem
to have noticed Carpano's [1929] work.
The work of Knowles, Das Gupta and
Basu, however, led Hutyra, Marek and
Manninger [1938] to consider the aegyp-
tianellosis of fowls to be indigenous to
India.
The present paper deals with the writer's
observations on piroplasmosis of both
imported and indigenous breeds of fowls
in the Punjab.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
At Hissar in May 1940, the writer was
called upon to treat an one year old White
Leghorn hen*, which was dull and off food
since the previous day. On examination
the bird was found to be samnolent, with
a pale comb, ruffled feathers and body tem-
perature at 108.0º F.; its droppings were
watery and dark green in colour. A few
larvae of Argas persicus were present
under the wings and around the cloaca.
Microscopic examination of a blood smear
stained by Giemsa's method showed fre-
quent tangles of Spirochaeta anserinum
* This bird and others of the same breed mentioned
in the following pages belonged to a flock which had lived
for several generations in India.
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