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Occurrence of Aspergillosis Infection Among Poultry in Northern Region of Malaysia from the Year 2014-2018

Azima Laili, H* ¹ , Humairak, S. ² , Mohd Azizul, O. ¹ , Zakirah, S. ,sup>2 , Saira Banu, M.R. ² and Mastura, Y. ³

¹Veterinary Research Institute, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, 31400 Ipoh, Perak.
²Regional Veterinary Laboratory Bukit Tengah 14007 Bukit Mertajam, Penang.
³Regional Veterinary Laboratory Kota Bharu, Kubang Kerian, 16150 Kota Bharu, Kelantan

Malaysian J. Anim. Sci. 2021 24(2): 15-21

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Aspergillosis is an assertive fungal infection spread through the air by a common mold known as Aspergillus sp. The disease develops when the host?s immune system is impaired or when birds are revealed to have an excessive amount of spores through the inbreathing of conidia or spores from adulterated feed, faeces or soil. This study was conducted to determine positive cases of aspergillosis infection among poultry in the Northern Region of Malaysia based on the poultry cases received by Regional Veterinary Laboratory Bukit Tengah (RVL-Bukit Tengah), Penang from 2014 to 2018. Over the 5 years, a total of 1,268 samples of sick poultry were reported under Bacteriology Section with 123 cases were reported positive with aspergillosis. Although these cases were accounted for only 9.7% of the total cases reported, the analysis is deemed important since information is scarce concerning the occurrence of aspergillosis among poultry especially in the Northern Region of Malaysia. Analysis of these data revealed that 58.5% of the poultry were infected with A. niger followed by A. flavus (24.4%) and A. fumigatus (17.1%). This study showed that aspergillosis due to A. niger is prevalent among the poultry in Northern Region and the infection occurs throughout the year at a low rate. In conclusion, necessary preventive measures should be undertaken to control aspergillosis among poultry in the Northern Region of Malaysia even though the infection rate is low as the infection could lead to high mortality among young birds which may induce significant production and economic losses.