In the present study, clinical signs and pathological changes were evaluated during 30 days in broilers, lineage Cobb, males, with ten days old, infected with Eimeria acervulina. Were used 192 animals distributed in 3 groups: group A inoculated with 1x10(6) sporulated oocysts; group B inoculated with 1x10(5) sporulated oocysts; group C inoculated with distilled water. The clinical signs observed were anorexia, diarrhea and apathy. The pathological macroscopic changes observed were: enteritis, hyperemia with subsequent intestinal congestion, high concentration of mucus exudates in the lumen of the small intestine, pale and dehydration muscle, gall bladder full of liquid and deposition of hepatic fat. The villous atrophy and high presence of inflammatory cells were the microscopic changes observed in the gut epithelium. In histopathologic analysis of liver observed inflammatory cells infiltrated and fat deposition. The results demonstrate that broilers experimentally infected with E. acervulina presented progressive intestinal lesions of variable intensity and that these abnormalities are the main cause of reduction of bird performance.
Eimeria acervulina; experimentally infection; broilers
