A Plasmodium from Chickens in Wisconsin

INTRODUCTION THE species of Plasmodium known to occur naturally in chickens and cause malaria in that host are Plasmodium gallinaceum (Brumpt, 1935) and P. juxtanucleare (Versiani and Gomes, 1941). The former species has been recorded from fowls in Ceylon, Indo-China, Malaya and Sumatra. Natural outbreaks in fowls have been described (Crawford, 1945) in Ceylon. Occurrence of two naturally acquired infections in exotic fowls at the Izatnagar Poultry Farm, India, was described (Rao, Das and Ramnani, 1951Rao, Das and Ramnani, 1952). Plasmodium juxtanucleare has been described in chickens in Brazil by Versiani (1943) and in Mexico by Beltran (1943). The natural occurrence of a Plasmodium in chickens within the United States has apparently not been reported previously. OBSERVATIONS OF NATURAL INFECTIONS In June, 1959, during a survey of chicken parasites in Wisconsin, a Plasmodium-like organism was discovered in a blood smear from a 6-week-old chicken, one of a small flock maintained for research work …