Adult polycystic liver disease in alpacas

IN veterinary medicine, multiple hepatic cysts in adult animals are commonly caused by parasitic infections, with echinococcosis being the most important disease from a public health point of view. We would like to raise awareness of two adult alpacas that presented with multiple hepatic cysts that could have been misdiagnosed without detailed investigation. An 11-year-old male Huacaya alpaca from a moderate-size herd was reported to have shown signs of colic and died. On-farm postmortem examination revealed a large number of variably sized, white to cream coloured, often protruding, cysts containing cloudy grey fluid, throughout the liver parenchyma (Fig 1). Adult polycystic liver disease in …