Favus: info needed and/or cures

[karri25]

Hello, I am thinking that I might have favus...I mean my chickens might have favus. I had posted a while back about comb discoloration and the general consensus was that it was probably frostbite but...
-it hasn't gone away
-my roos comb is now more white
-I noticed today some of my hens have a tinge of discoloration too.

It began as a half inch white circle on one side of my roos comb. It turned black and the ring is still there. Now his comb has whitish snowy looking specks covering a lot of it. I do not think he has fowl pox. I have seen pictures and my whole flock is vaccinated against it. I understand they can sometimes still get it after being vaccinated but this doesn't really look like fowl pox to me.

I scheduled an appointment with a vet for wed. but with our washer still being broken and us being really short of cash right now I would feel really guilty taking my chicken to the vet. I have been super worried about my girls for awhile now though b/c they are still sneezing. Woul dfavus cuase that too (crossing fingers)?
Any advice, pictures of your cases of favus, or cures are RIDICULOUSLY appreciated!
THanks.

 

[KKluckers]

My friends roo had a fugal infection on his comb. She just used antifungal cream liek Lotrimon. Can you post a picture?
That would help a lot.

 

[dlhunicorn]

posting a pic would be most helpful... I have run across various pics but please try and get a pic so we can see what you are seeing...
http://www.organic-vet.reading.ac.uk/Poultryweb/disease/favus/favus1.htm
The Condition

Favus is a chronic skin condition that afflicts poultry and mammals, including humans. It is normally caused by the dermatophytic fungus Trichophyton megninii. The fungi Microsporum gypseum and T. simii have also been identified with some cases of favus. It is not considered a particularly important disease of intensive poultry, although it may be a problem in some free-range and backyard flocks.

The first symptoms include the development of lesions on non-feathered skin, such as the lower leg, comb and wattle. Some loss of feathers and skin scales may occur although there are normally no significant signs.

The condition arises through the invasion by the T. megninii of the corpus lutuem of the skin. Lesions first develop on the comb and then the fungus may spread to produce white spots, giving the appearance of sprinkled flour. As the disease spreads concentrically, the white spots begin to scale off to give an appearance of a wrinkled crust. Although birds can recover from this, the fungus may spread to the feathered regions. When this happens, the feathers may fall out in patches and thickened, crusty skin develops around the feather follicles. These may develop as depressions and are often referred to as "favus cups".

Severe cases may result in the development of nodules and yellow caseous deposits in the respiratory tract.

Young birds with well-developed wattles are most likely to be affected.

Diagnosis of favus is by histological identification of hyphae or spores in skin lesions and feather follicles and by culturing the fungus on Sabouraud dextrose agar or selective dermatophyte media

Methods of Treatment

Individuals may be treated by removal of crusts and dressing of infected areas with anti-fungal compounds. Successful treatment with topical applications of tincture of iodine (Mustaffa-Babjee and Oommen ,1970) and miconazole (Droual et al, 1991) have been reported.

Chute (1972) cites Beach and Halpin (1918) as successfully treating favus by rubbing lesions with an ointment of formaldehyde and vaseline. This involved melting the vaseline in a jar in a water bath and adding 5% by weight of formalin and shaking the mixture. Riedel (1950) reported a successful single application of a quarternary ammonium compound.

Although a number of effective treatments have been reported, mild cases normally recover without treatment (Chute, 1972). These cases should be isolated from the rest of the flock. "


http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Favus/Favus.html
(with photo of condition on a silkie and various treatment measures)