Clinical manifestation and postmortem findings
The current study focused on infected chickens of the Ross breed. IBH
occurred in 46 farms around Sulaymaniyah governorate in the Kurdistan of
Iraq, and the clinical signs in 2–3 week-old broiler chicks included
lethargy, huddling with ruffled feathers, inappetence, and yellow mucoid
droppings.
The mortality rates ranged between 8% and 15%, and postmortem findings
included pale icteric skin and ecchymotic hemorrhages on the skeletal
muscles (Figure 1A). Enlarged, pale, and mottled liver (Figure 1B and
1C), swollen pale kidney with distended tubules (Figure 1D). The bursa
of Fabricius and thymus had not atrophied. The bone marrow was red.