J. N. Beasley

An outbreak of histomoniasis in turkeys infected with a moderate level of Ascaridia dissimilis but no Heterakis gallinarum.

Histomoniasis was diagnosed in a commercial turkey flock. All morbidity and mortality occurred in one house. Birds exhibited lesions characteristic for histomoniasis, and the diagnosis was confirmed by histopathologic examination. Affected turkeys were infected with moderate levels of Ascaridia dissimilis but not Heterakis gallinarum. Compression smears of hepatic tissues showed typical histotrophic phase Histomonas meleagridis, whereas cecal smears exhibited large numbers of Trichomonas gallinarum. A challenge experiment was conducted in which turkey poults were placed on contaminated litter. Although histomoniasis was not reproduced in the experiment, the birds did become infected with low numbers of A. dissimilis.

Use of Virulent Hemorrhagic Enteritis Virus for the Induction of Colibacillosis in Turkeys

Three hundred fifty 1-day-old large white turkeys were reared in brooding batteries to 10 days of age, after which they were moved to floor pens on litter. At 7 weeks of age, poults were allotted into four treatment groups as follows: 1) virulent hemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV) alone (100 turkeys), 2) Escherichia coli alone (100 turkeys), 3) HEV + E. coli (100 turkeys), and 4) negative controls (50 turkeys). HEV was given orally at 7 weeks of age, followed by E. coli challenge in the drinking water 2 days later for 10 consecutive days. All groups were observed daily for mortality, both during and after challenge. Turkeys that died or were moribund were necropsied, and cultures were taken from the liver and bone marrow for bacterial isolation. Total mortality rates were 23% in the HEV + E. coli group, 10% in the HEV-only group, 3% in the E. coli-only group, and 0% in the negative control group. Cumulative mortality values were significantly different from those of the negative controls (P < or = 0.05) for HEV only and the HEV + E. coli group. E. coli was isolated from the liver and bone marrow of almost all turkeys that died.

A longitudinal study of green-liver osteomyelitis complex in commercial turkeys.

Two flocks of Nicholas tom turkeys from separate farms with histories of above-average condemnations for turkey green-liver osteomyelitis complex (TOC) were studied throughout a 16-week growout. Fifty birds from each farm were necropsied each week for 15 weeks, and birds that had green livers, osteomyelitis in the proximal tibia, or swollen joints were cultured for aerobic bacteria along with an equal number of control birds. At processing, TOC lesions and green livers were obtained for bacterial culture and histopathology. Green-liver-associated TOC was not observed until the turkeys were 9 or 10 weeks of age. The incidence of TOC was higher on one farm, which also had a higher incidence of airsacculitis, higher early and weekly mortality, seroconversion to Newcastle disease virus and Mycoplasma meleagridis, and significantly higher average body weights, relative spleen weights, and relative liver weights. Both farms had a high incidence of intestinal lesions and infestation with Ascaridia dissimilis. Histological evaluation of green livers revealed hyperplasia of bile ducts, dilation of sinusoids, and pigment-containing Kupffers cells, some of which stained positive for iron. The bacterial isolates most frequently cultured from bones and livers were pleomorphic gram-variable coccobacilli, which grew visible colonies only after a series of subcultures and extended incubation.

Pathogenicity Studies of an Arkansas Variant Infectious Bursal Disease Virus

A variant infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), IBDV-s977, was blind passaged in cell culture, plaque purified, and attenuated by serial passage at a high multiplicity of infection (MOI) in chick embryo fibroblasts (CEF). Cell culture passages of virus caused less bursal atrophy and splenomegaly than did the original isolate and retained immunogenicity; however, virus tended to persist for a longer time in the bursa and spleen of birds infected with the highest CEF passages. Antibody to both low MOI and high MOI passages of IBDV-s977 poorly neutralized virus that was isolated from bursal tissue 28 days postinfection (PI). The spleens of chickens infected with the eighteenth CEF passage were negative for virus at 3 and 7 days PI but had high titers of virus at 14 and 28 days PI. There was also more virus in the bursa of birds infected with the fifteenth and eighteenth CEF passages at 28 days PI than at 7 or 14 days PI. Defective interference (DI) was demonstrated when cell cultures were coinfected with a constant amount of low MOI virus and serial dilutions of high MOI virus. There was an increase in interference score with increased passage number in CEF, and there was more interference in virus passaged at a high MOI. There was an inverse relationship between interference score and bursal lesion score and splenomegaly at 7 days PI, indicating that DI particles may be involved in virus attenuation. There was a positive relationship between interference and viral persistence in the bursa and spleen at 28 days PI. Antiserum to s977 was shown to enhance the nonlytic replication of s977 in CEF, presumably within macrophages, providing a possible mechanism for the pathotypic variation seen in emerging strains of IBDV.

A Survey of Two Commercial Turkey Farms Experiencing High Levels of Liver Foci

Two turkey farms that had previously experienced high levels of liver condemnations at slaughter were monitored through one complete growout cycle. Liver foci appeared at both farms by week 2. More than 80% of the liver foci sampled did not have any aerobic or facultative bacteria isolated from the lesions. Low numbers of Ascaridia dissimilis larvae were found on both farms by week 3 in the growout. The patterns for the ascaridiasis at both farms were similar, although one of the farms had a higher number of ascarids earlier than the other. Neither farm had high levels of adult ascarids present, although the average larval burden was high. Piperazine was administered at both farms on multiple occasions, but there were no significant decreases in the level of adult ascarids following administration. There was no apparent development of immunity, since all stages of the life cycle remained stable, even late in the growout. The simultaneous appearance of the liver foci and the A. dissimilis indicate that the ascarids may be responsible for the hepatic pathology.

Digestion of Feed by Chicks with Pale Bird Syndrome

Unaffected chicks (normal) and chicks with pale bird syndrome (pale) were fed a control diet or a test diet obtained from the broiler house containing the pale chicks. Pale birds digested less (P less than 0.05) dry matter and ether extract than normal chicks, and the nitrogen content in their feces was greater. The chicks from both sources digested more (P less than 0.05) dry matter from the test feed but also excreted more (P less than 0.05) nitrogen than those fed the control diet. Neither diet resulted in differences in the digestion of ether extract. The cause of pale bird syndrome was related more to source of chicks rather than source of feed. Depigmentation may have resulted from decreased pigment absorption because of reduced absorption of dietary components, including ether extract.

ANTIGENIC CHARACTERIZATION OF AN ARKANSAS ISOLATE OF INFECTIOUS BURSAL DISEASE VIRUS

The s977 strain of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) was isolated in northwest Arkansas in 1977 from the bursae of young broilers with high maternal antibody titers to the Moulthrop strain of IBDV (BursaVac). The comparison of a plaque-purified isolate of s977 with other IBDV serotype 1 and serotype 2 strains using virus neutralization indicates that s977 is a subtype of serotype 1 vaccine viruses and the MD variant strain of IBDV and has no relatedness to the Delaware Variant A (VarA) virus. In vivo cross-protection studies in specific-pathogen-free white leghorn chickens showed that an inactivated vaccine using s977 antigen was 2.5 times more protective against challenge with s977 than was an inactivated IBDV Variant E (VarE) vaccine. The vaccination of maternally immune broiler chicks with live s977 did not provide protection against subsequent challenge, indicating that s977 does not have enough antigenic difference to break through maternal immunity. Analysis of denatured viral polypeptides using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that s977 and two reported variant strains, 51 and VarE, share three protein bands, 90 kD (VP1), 40 kD (VP2), and 31 kD (VP3), that were not observed in BursaVac. BursaVac and s977 shared a 74 kD precursor band that was absent or very faint in the VarE and 51 strains. The most unique characteristic of s977 was the relative abundance of a wide, 56-63 kD band that contained two distinct immunoreactive bands when blotted with antiserum to s977. BursaVac contained a 56 kD band that failed to react with s977 antiserum. Analysis of polypeptide bands using laser densitometry indicated the presence of a number of bands between 20 kD and 25 kD in the s977, 51, and VarE preparations but only a 25 kD band in BursaVac. The number of bands decreased with the degree of relatedness to standard vaccine strains. It appears that, antigenically, S977 may hold an intermediate position between the classic virus strains and the more recently reported serotype 1 variants.

A Survey of Sixty Turkey Flocks Exhibiting Hepatic Foci Taken at Time of Processing

Fifty turkey flocks including 24 16-week-old male flocks and 26 20-week-old male flocks were sampled at time of processing. Hepatic foci were cultured for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. The majority of these did not have any bacteria recovered from the lesions. Of the bacteria that were recovered, most were facultative anaerobes, with Escherichia coli and Salmonella sp. comprising the most common isolates. All of the birds examined (300 total) for parasites were infected with varying levels of Ascaridia dissimilis. The highest average worm burden was found in the 20-week-old flocks. Heterakis gallinarum were found in only a few of the younger turkeys (16 weeks old) and not in any of the older birds. An analysis of the spatial distribution of the hepatic foci performed in an additional 10 turkey flocks (500 birds) revealed that, although present on the surface of all regions of the liver, 56.12% of the lesions were found on the left hepatic lobe and 43.88% were found on the right hepatic lobe.

Effect of age of maternal flock and strain on the incidence of tibial dyschondroplasia in growing chicks.

Two experiments were conducted to study the effects of age of the maternal flock (27 vs. 57 weeks of age at time the eggs were set) and strain of broiler chicks (Cobb 500, Ross, Arbor Acres, and Avian) on the incidence of tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) in broiler cockerels grown to 3 weeks of age. The chicks were fed a corn/soybean meal-based diet containing 3145 kcal metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen retention (MEn)/kg, 24% protein, and 0.50% available phosphorus. Each treatment was replicated four times with eight chicks per pen. In Expt. 1, chicks from the old parent flock had significantly higher body weights (P < or = 0.05) than those from the young parent flock. There were no significant differences in feed efficiency or incidence of TD. In Expt. 2, body weights, feed efficiency, and TD were unaffected by strain.

Histologic study of hepatic lesions in two turkey flocks.

Hepatic lesions were studied in two turkey flocks by euthanatizing 50 birds a week from the ages of 1 through 15 wk. Samples of liver that contained lesions and samples of duodenum, pancreas, ileum, and cecal tonsil were examined histologically. Lymphocytic infiltrations made up 82% and 75% of the hepatic lesions, and granulomas occurred in 18% and 25% of the livers. Nematode larvae were present in 12% and 15% of the hepatic lesions.