Restriction enzyme analysis of DNA was used to characterize fowl adenoviruses (FAVs) consistently associated with outbreaks of acute inclusion body hepatitis. When low doses of these FAVs were administered via a natural route to chickens they caused IBH. A strong genomic relationship was demonstrated between these virulent FAVs. In contrast, the genomes of serologically related, but non-virulent or mildly virulent FAVs were found to differ substantially from those of the virulent FAVs.

No abstract

A model for the reproduction of the runting-stunting syndrome (RSS) of broiler chickens is described. In this model, groups of at least 90 day-old broiler chickens were inoculated (per os) with various tissue homogenates or virus preparations. During the first week post-inoculation, birds were examined for the development of histopathological changes in their intestines. At day 14 post-inoculation, the remaining birds were weighed and tested for elevations in plasma amylase activity and examined for the development of pancreatic atrophy. Bacteria-free intestinal and pancreatic homogenates from chickens of different ages, taken from flocks which developed RSS, regularly induced a lower mean live-weight in treated birds. Of these, only intestinal homogenates prepared from 5-day-old birds induced intestinal lesions, lowered mean live-weight and increased the incidence of both elevated plasma amylase activity and pancreatic atrophy. These changes were more marked in birds exposed to short periods of sub-optimal temperatures during the first week post-inoculation. An ultracentrifuged pellet prepared from this intestinal homogenate, was also found to induce an increased incidence of pancreatic atrophy in treated birds. These studies suggest that the causative agent(s) of RSS is an as yet unidentified virus, and that the effects of this infection are greater in birds subjected to stress, such as sub-optimal temperature exposure, within the first week of hatch.

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Experiments were undertaken to study the pathogenesis of VRI-33, a strain of fowl adenovirus serotype 8 isolated from the liver of a broiler chicken with inclusion body hepatitis. A 30% death rate resulted from oral infection of one-day-old specific pathogen free chickens with 10(6) plaque forming units of VRI-33. Chickens 10, 14, 21 and 28 days of age did not die following infection via natural routes but there were some motalities following infection via parenteral routes. Immunodepression by neonatal cyclophosphamide treatment, followed by infection with VRI-33 via non-parenteral routes, caused varying degrees of hepatitis with basophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies in hepatocytes. The mortality rate of cyclophosphamide-treated, VRI-33 infected chickens, was not significantly altered by post-infection temperature stress. Infection with infectious bursal disease virus, followed by infection with VRI-33 via natural routes at 14 days of age, was not associated with mortalities.