• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Locations:
  • Canyon
  • Center
  • College Station
  • Gonzales
  • TVMDL Career Center
  • Contact Us

Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory

Apple App

download on the Apple App Store
download the app on Google Play

Search

Translate:

  • Find a Form
  • Deliver a Sample
    • Specimen Collection Information
    • Packaging Samples for Shipment
    • Drop Off a Sample
    • Cremation
    • Order Supplies
  • Client Portal
    • Get Test Results
    • SVA Portal
    • Pay a Bill
  • Become a Client
  • Resources
    • TVMDL Bovine Testing Guidance and Reference Material
    • Diagnostic Plans
      • Bovine Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
      • Equine Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
      • Small Ruminant Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
      • Small Animal Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
    • Education Library
    • Case Study Library
    • Electronic Reporting: QR Coding Process
    • CoreOne Resources
  • About Us
    • Locations and Hours
    • Agency Leadership
    • Speaker’s Bureau
    • Texas Pullorum-Typhoid Program
    • TVMDL Mobile app
    • Contact Us
  • Locations
    • College Station Laboratory
    • Canyon Laboratory
    • Center Laboratory
    • Gonzales Laboratory
  • Contact Us

Achyla spp. pathogen noted in alligator hatchings

February 15, 2018 by Mallory Pfeifer

Achyla spp. pathogen noted in alligator hatchings
By Eric Snook, DVM, PhD

With over 800,000 tests run annually, TVMDL encounters many challenging cases. Our case study series will highlight these interesting cases to increase awareness among veterinary and diagnostic communities.

Two alligator hatchlings were presented for necropsy to the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (TVMDL) from an alligator farm.  The alligator farmer noticed animals in one of his pens had started developing milky looking skin lesions over the beak and the back.

White fungus present on the limb of a alligator hatching

Milky lesions noted on alligator hatching

The lesions would progress, the animals would stop eating and then ultimately die.  Only one pen was initially affected, but after unwittingly contaminating an adjacent pen, a second pen also developed similar lesions.  Only the hatchlings were affected.

At necropsy, lesions were noted over the entire body, but were most severe over the limbs and beak. The lesions appeared to be ulcerated foci coalescing over the most severe locations.  Histologically, there was a multifocal ulcerative dermatitis with numerous intralesional hyphae.  Culture and DNA sequencing of the organisms identified an organism not yet reported as a pathogen in alligators: Achyla spp.  Achyla spp. is an oomycete.

Oomycetes are water molds, previously classified as fungi, but now in the Kingdom Protista.  Very little is understood about this organism and why these animals initially became infected, but epidemiology is currently underway to gain more understanding.  Because oomycetes lack some of the key features of fungal organisms such as a chitin wall, treatment of these organisms is more challenging.  The farmer in this case is implementing several treatment mechanisms to clear this organism from his farm and prevent further losses.

To learn more about this case, contact Dr. Eric Snook,  veterinary pathologist at the College Station laboratory. Learn more about TVMDL and our test catalog by visiting tvmdl.tamu.edu or calling 1.888.646.5623.

 

Low magnification (4x) photomicrograph of the skin over the leg demonstrating a large crust containing debris, keratin and mixed infectious agents.

Higher magnification (20x) photomicrograph of the same area of skin demonstrating the degenerate leukocytes admixed with keratin debris and negative staining profiles of hyphae.

Photomicrograph at 40x with a GMS stain highlighting the abundant hyphae. The hyphae have various diameters with irregular branching and no visible septations.

Filed Under: Case Study Tagged With: alligator, case study, college station, exotics, necropsy, reptiles, TVMDL

Primary Sidebar

Latest Case Studies

  • Neurologic Disease due to Bovine Herpesvirus-5 (BHV-5) Infection in a 3-week-old Charolais mix calf

    February 27, 2023

  • Rare case of ocular onchocerciasis in a dog from south Texas

    January 25, 2023

  • Cerebrospinal Nematodiasis (Visceral Larval Migrans) in Birds

    September 13, 2022

  • Spironucleosis (Hexamitiasis) in Quail

    August 9, 2022

  • Endocarditis in a White-Tailed Deer Caused by Trueperella pyogenes

    August 9, 2022

Footer

For Employees

  • Employee Email
  • TVMDL Rules & Procedures
  • TVMDL Career Center
  • Emergency Alert Systems
  • AgriLife People Directory
  • AgriLife Administrative Services
  • TAMUS Single Sign On
  • Facebook

State of Texas

  • Texas.gov Portal
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Statewide Search
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Risk, Fraud, & Misconduct Hotline

Policies

  • Privacy and Security Policy
  • Accessibility Policy
  • Texas A&M AgriLife
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research

483 Agronomy Rd
College Station, TX 77843