Three classic IBDV strains were previously isolated from commercial layer chicken flocks and shown to be phylogenetically related to vaccine strains but pathogenic in susceptible chickens. In this study, their viral genomes were sequenced and compared to sequences of vaccines being used in those flocks. The vaccine strains examined were sequenced directly from the manufacturer and had identical genome segment B sequences. Compared to these vaccines, the GA-1, H-30 and CS-2-35 isolates each had one silent mutation in the gene that encodes VP1. Compared to the two vaccines used at the time CS-2-35 was isolated, the segment A sequence of CS-2-35 contained numerous nucleotide and amino acid mutations suggesting the CS-2-35 virus was not closely related to these vaccines. This virus however did have amino acid mutations in VP2 that are reported to be necessary for replication in cell culture and lacked two of the three amino acid mutations previously shown to be necessary for virulence. These data suggest that CS-2-35 was a descendant from an attenuated strain of IBDV. When the segment A genomic sequences of the GA-1 and H-30 viruses were compared to the vaccines being used in those flocks they were most closely related to the attenuated D78 vaccine strain. In genome segment A, three nucleotide mutations in GA-1 and four in H-30 were observed compared to the D78 classic vaccine. These nucleotide mutations caused one amino acid (H253N) change in the GA-1 virus and two amino acids (H253Q and G259D) were different in the H-30 virus. In addition, both the GA-1 and H-30 viruses had the amino acid G76 in VP2 that appears to be unique to the vaccine D78. The data suggest that GA-1 and H-30 are genetically related and have a common ancestor even though they were isolated from geographically distant flocks. The evidence also suggests that GA-1, H-30 and CS-2-35 could be reversions from attenuated vaccine viruses or by coincidence genetically resemble classic IBDV vaccines. It should be noted that some of the classic virus vaccines were not being used according to the manufacturer's recommendations at the time the GA-1, H-30 and CS-2-35 strains were isolated. Together, the molecular and pathogenicity data indicate that a single amino acid mutation from Histidine (H) to Glutamine (Q) or Asparagine (N) at position 253 in VP2 will markedly increase the virulence of an attenuated IBDV.

Following the initial discovery of very virulent infectious bursal disease virus (vvIBDV) strains in Europe, these viruses spread to many parts of the world. In this study, we examined the phylogenetic relationship of never-before-published IBDV from 18 countries on four continents. All the samples were collected between 1997 and 2005 and were reported to be from broiler flocks experiencing higher than expected mortality which is often associated with acute very virulent infectious bursal disease. A total of 113 samples were imported into the U.S. and viral genetic material was used to determine the nucleotide sequence of the VP2 gene hypervariable region. Although all the samples were reported to be associated clinically with high mortality, genetic analysis suggests that some were not vvIBDV strains. Two viruses from South Africa were genetically similar to U.S. variant viruses. A majority (71/113) of the viruses examined had the amino acid Alanine at position 222 and sixty-seven of these suspect vvIBDV also had amino acids I242, I256, I294 and S299 which are highly conserved among vvIBDV strains. Phylogenetic analysis placed putative vvIBDV strains from many different countries and geographic regions in a single clade with some minor non-significant branching.

We examined the effect of amino acids 222 and 254 on antigenicity of the variant Del-E strain of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). Using molecular epidemiology, we identified a virus designated as Del-E-222 that was identical to Del-E except for alanine at position 222. A second virus was generated using reverse genetics of the Del-E backbone to create Del-E-254 that contained an asparagine at amino acid 254. The Del-E-222 and Del-E-254 viruses were tested for their ability to escape neutralizing immunity provided by parenteral vaccination. The bursas from birds vaccinated with parental Del-E and challenged with Del-E-222 or Del-E-254 had macroscopic lesions typical of an IBDV infection, and their B-BW ratios were significantly smaller than the controls. Microscopic lesions included lymphocyte depletion and confirmed the ability of Del-E-222 and Del-E-254 to break through the immunity induced by the parental Del-E virus vaccination. Both mutations appear to be contributing to antigenic drift.

Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) causes an economically important, immunosuppressive disease in chickens. There are two serotypes of the virus that contain a bi-segmented double-stranded RNA genome. In December 2008, the first very virulent (vv)IBDV was identified in California, USA and in 2009 we isolated reassortant viruses in two different locations. Genome segment A of these reassortants was typical of vvIBDV serotype 1 but genome segment B was most similar to IBDV serotype 2. The CA-K785 reassortant caused 20% mortality in chickens but no morbidity or mortality in commercial turkey poults despite being infectious. There have been previous reports of natural reassortants between vvIBDV and other serotype 1 strains, but a natural reassortant between IBDV serotypes 1 and 2 has not been described. The apparent reassorting of California vvIBDV with an endemic serotype 2 virus indicates a common host and suggests vvIBDV may have entered California earlier than originally thought.

An outbreak of infectious bursal disease (IBD) in two California layer flocks resulted in the isolation of two infectious bursal disease viruses designated rA and rB. Increased mortality plus gross and histopathology in the layer flocks suggested rA and rB could be very virulent infectious bursal disease virus (vvIBDV). Preliminary studies indicated that high mortality resulted when bursa homogenates from the layer farms were used to inoculate specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chicks. In addition, rA and rB contained VP2 amino acid sequences typically seen in vvIBDV. Molecular and in vivo studies were conducted to more thoroughly identify and characterize the rA and rB viruses. Nucleotide sequence analysis demonstrated that rA and rB had identical sequences across the hypervariable VP2 (hvVP2) and segment B regions examined, and their amino acid sequences in the hvVP2 region were identical to the vvwIBDV type strains UK 661, OKYM, and Harbin. Furthermore, the genome segment B nucleotide sequences examined for rA and rB were a 98.1% match with vvIBDV and only an 88.0% match with classic IBDV strains. Phylogenetic analysis placed the rA and rB viruses with other vvIBDV and confirmed these viruses were close genetic descendants of vvIBDV seen around the world. Pathogenicity studies in 4-wk-old SPF chicks demonstrated that at a high dose (105.5 50% egg infective dose [EID50]) and a low dose (102.0 EID50) of rA and rB, mortality ranged from 91% to 100%. A pathogenic classic virus, standard challenge (STC), at similar doses did not cause mortality in the SPF chicks. In addition, mortality occurred in three out of four SPF birds exposed by direct contact to rA and rB inoculated chicks. Serum from convalescent birds inoculated with rA had high titers to IBDV but were negative for antibodies to infectious bronchitis virus, avian influenza virus, chicken anemia virus, Newcastle disease virus, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, and Mycoplasma synoviae. Virus isolation attempts on the rA and rB bursa homogenate inocula also indicated that no contaminating microorganisms contributed to the high mortality and pathology observed in the SPF chicks. In one experiment, broilers with maternal immunity to IBDV were protected from infection and disease when they were challenged with 10(2) EID50 and 10(5) EID50 of the STC virus. When challenged with 10(2) EID50 of the rA virus, the maternally immune broilers were protected from disease but not infection as evidenced by a positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay for the virus. When the broilers were challenged with 10(5) EID50 of the rA virus, they had typical gross and histopathologic signs of IBD but no mortality by 7 days postinoculation. It was concluded that the rA and rB viruses meet the genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of a vvIBDV.