yolk sac infection

INTRODUCTION

 Also known as “mushy chick disease” and “omphalitis’. This condition is one of the
common causes of mortality in chicks during the first week after hatching.E.coli can be
involved either as the primary and sole causative agent or as a secondary opportunist.
 Yolk sac infection can be associated with a thickened navel , where the route of infection is
via the unhealed navel, orbacteria can multiply in the hatching egg following faecal
contamination of the shell.
 Yolk sac infection can cause 100% mortality in a batch of chicks in the first week of life, but
deaths are usually between 5% and 10%. Other bacteria, such as Bacillus cereus,
staphylococci, Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Proteus Spp. And clostridia, can also cause yolk sac
infection, either on their own, or, more commonly together with E.coli.
 E.coli multiplies rapidly in the intestines of newly hatched chicks and infection spreads
rapidly from chick to chick in the hatchery and brooders.
 A hatching environment that is not sufficiently humid is often associated with a high
incidence of yolk sac infection.
Yolk sac infection (Omphalitis, Mushy chick disease)

 Affected chicks appear depressed and have distended abdomen and a tendancy to huddle.
 Sometimes the navel is visibly thickened, prominent and necrotic. Affected carcasses may
show a distinctive, purifying smell.
 Post-mortem examination reveals a septicaemic carcass with the subcutaneous and yolk
sac blood vessels engorged and dilated.
 The lungs are usually congested and the liver and kidneys dark and swollen.
 The striking finding is an inflamed unabsorbed yolk sac with the yolk abnormal in colour
and consistency.
 Yolk sac infection (Mushy chick disease,
Omphalitis) Abdominal cavity revealing the
inflammed "unabsorbed" yolk sac with abnormal
colour and consistency of its content (arrows)

The striking finding is an inflamed unabsorbed yolk sac with the yolk abnormal in colour and consistency.

 The yolk may be yellow and insipissated or brownish green and watery, and is often fetid.
 Peritonitis with haemorrhages in the serosal surfaces of the intestines is a regular feature.
 A profuse pure growth of nonhaemolytic E.coli may be recovered from the abdominal
viscera and particularly the yolk sac on direct culture.
