Occurrence of fatal syngamosis in emu birds of Kerala.

Two male and two female emu birds of 8 months to 1 year old reared in a private farm were brought dead to College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode for postmortem examination during the period from July to September, 2010. The birds were emaciated and drooling of blood from the mouth was observed for 2 days prior to death. Postmortem examination of the dead birds revealed occurrence of large numbers of red coloured worms throughout trachea with histopathological changes. The worms were identified as Syngamus trachea based on morphology. Economic losses due to this parasitism are also described.