Autopsy specimen – a pigeon with a Herpes virus hepatitis. The liver is swollen and has an unusually dark colour. Herpes virus causes inflammation of the bile ducts that drain bile from the liver. The bile ducts become swollen and narrowed, causing the deep green bile to accumulate in the liver and give it the darker colour. Pigeons have two lobes in their liver, the left and right. In this photo, bile stasis has become so advanced that the green bile can be seen accumulating below the liver capsule in the left lobe (the top lobe in this photo). This photo was taken about ten minutes after the pigeon died of Herpes virus. |