van Bolhuis GH †, Rijks JM †, Dorrestein G *, Rudolfova J #,
van Dijk M , Kuiken T †
† Dutch Wildlife Health Center (DWHC),
Department of Virology, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
* Department of Veterinary Pathology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
# Department of Parasitology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Bird and Hedgehog Sanctuary ‘de Mikke’, Middelburg, The Netherlands
Schistosome infections in mammals cause chronic proliferative vascular lesions, associated with the presence of adult parasites in the lumen of mesenteric and portal veins. In birds, however, this has never been reported. In this study we found hyperplastic endophlebitis attributed to adult schistosomes (probably Trichobilharzia filiformis), as the main pathologic finding in five of eight free-ranging mute swans (Cygnus olor), which had died in Walcheren, the Netherlands, in 2002. On histology, the intestinal and portal veins of these swans showed moderate to severe, diffuse, hyperplastic endophlebitis, characterized by myointimal hyperplasia, often with obliteration of the vascular lumen. Additionally, moderate to severe lymphocytic and granulocytic enteritis occurred in all eight swans, associated in three swans with the presence of schistosome eggs in the intestinal mucosa. All swans had hepatic hemosiderosis and five splenic hemosiderosis. Other findings included high hepatic copper levels, which corresponded to the severe contamination of the sediment in the canals of Walcheren, and as no significant hepatic damage was found, contribution to morbidity and mortality in these swans seemed unlikely. The vascular lesions may have contributed to the emaciation and death of those mute swans by obstruction of venous return in the intestinal and portal veins.
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