A Novel Post-Mortem Detection of Urate Calculi (Cholelithiasis) in Intraluminal Gallbladder in Broiler Chickens

Chicken Astrovirus (CAstV) is a well-known pathogen in young poultry, causing runting-stunting syndrome (RSS), enteritis, and severe nephritis leading to visceral gout. This case report documents an extremely rare, previously undescribed post-mortem lesion of intraluminal gallbladder urate calculi (cholelithiasis) in a commercial broiler flock. A flock of 14-day-old broiler chickens in Wasit, Iraq, presented with severe clinical dehydration, stunted growth, emaciation, yellowish discoloration of the legs, and a sudden, sharp escalation in daily mortality over three days (420, 560, and 790 deaths, respectively). Systemic necropsies revealed generalized visceral gout with massive urate deposits on visceral organs and severely proposing retrograde biliary reflux or direct trans-hepatic urate translocation as the potential pathophysiological mechanisms during acute renal shutdown.