Intestinal contents of 13-day-old turkey poults in Great Britain were analysed as the birds showed stunting, unevenness and lameness, with 4% mortality. At post mortem examination, the main gross features were fluid caecal and intestinal contents. Histological examination of tissues was largely unremarkable, apart from some sections that showed crypt dilation and flattened epithelia. Negative contrast electron microscopy of caecal contents revealed virus particles, which in size and morphology had the appearance of a coronavirus. RNA was extracted (turkey/UK/412/00) and used in a number of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCRs) with the oligonucleotides based on sequences derived from avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a coronavirus of domestic fowl. The RT-PCRs confirmed that turkey/UK/412/00 was a coronavirus and, moreover, showed that it had the same partial gene order (S-E-M-5-N-3' untranslated region) as IBV. This gene order is unlike that of any known mammalian coronavirus, which does not have a gene analogous to the gene 5 of IBV.The gene 5 of the turkey virus had two open reading frames, 5a and 5b, as in IBV and the coronaviruses isolated from turkeys in North America. The turkey/UK/412/00 also resembled IBV, but not mammalian coronaviruses, in having three open reading frames in the gene encoding E protein (gene 3). The percentage differences between the nucleotide sequences of genes 3 and 5 and the 3' untranslated region of turkey/UK/412/00 when compared with those of IBVs were similar to the differences observed when different strains of IBV were compared with each other. No sequences unique to the turkey isolates were identified. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that a coronavirus was associated with disease in turkeys outside of North America and that it is a Group 3 coronavirus, like IBV.
Outbreaks of respiratory disease were investigated in reared pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) aged approximately 18 to 32 weeks, released into the semi-wild on four shooting estates in southern England. The clinical signs in the affected birds included swelling of the face and eyes, loss of condition, gasping respirations and coughing. The gross pathology findings included sinusitis, airsacculitis, pleural oedema and lung lesions. The histopathological findings in the affected lungs were characterized by a granulomatous pneumonia. Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT) was isolated from respiratory tract tissues, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing on three isolates revealed two distinct genotypes, one previously associated with some electrophoretic type (ET) 1 strains and the other a novel genotype that clustered among sequences previously associated with ET 3, ET 4, ET 5 and ET 6 isolates. The localization of ORT within the lung tissue was demonstrated by fluorescent in-situ hybridization in the bronchial exudate of three cases, although not within the granulomatous lesions themselves. In each case, ORT was identified as part of a complex of other respiratory agents including avian paramyxovirus type 2, avian coronavirus, Mycoplasma gallisepticum, Mycoplasma synoviae and other Mycoplasma species, Escherichia coli, Pasteurella multocida, other Pasteurellaceae and Syngamus trachea, suggesting synergism with other agents. Exposure to other intercurrent factors, including adverse weather conditions and internal parasitism, may also have exacerbated the severity of disease.
The possible cause of disease and mortality in corvids on an outdoor pig unit in the north of England between August 2007 and March 2008 was investigated. Nine carrion crows (Corvus corone corone) and nine rooks (Corvus frugilegus), comprising five live-caught birds with clinical signs of respiratory disease, one live-caught bird without respiratory disease, and 12 birds submitted dead were examined. Clinical signs, gross and histopathological examination, microbiology and toxicology indicated that Pasteurella multocida infection was the cause of disease. Molecular and serotyping analyses showed that P. multocida isolates (obtained from live-caught birds with clinical respiratory disease) were all capsular type F with a mix of somatic serotypes 3, 4 and 7. Immunohistochemistry increased the diagnostic sensitivity of the analysis and detected P. multocida within the pulmonary lesions of all affected live-caught birds and 10 of 12 birds found dead. These findings suggest that wild corvids in the UK can suffer from lung pathology associated with P. multocida and, as potential vectors of P. multocida, may pose a risk to domestic poultry.
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Between 1995 and 1997 a neurological condition in pheasant poults from 24 sites in England and Scotland was investigated. Affected birds showed varying degrees of ataxia and incoordinated movements and, in severe cases, recumbency, but generally remained alert with their heads held upright. The condition characteristically affected poults from seven weeks of age and the incidence on any one site was low. No significant bacteria were isolated consistently from brain tissue. The condition was characterised histologically by a non-suppurative meningoencephalitis, in which lesions were found predominantly in the cerebellum in 61 of 81 samples examined (75.3 per cent). A non-suppurative myelitis was recorded in 16 of 20 spinal cords examined. No lesions were recorded in peripheral neural tissue and lesions were rare in other tissues. The condition appeared not to have been recorded previously in pheasants. A viral aetiology was suspected but Newcastle disease virus was not involved.
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KERATITIS and conjunctivitis have been recorded in association with avian poxvirus infection in red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) (Gortázar and others 2002), Pasteurella species infection in chickens (Ojo and others 1972), and Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Cryptosporidium species infection in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) (Murakami and others 2002). In chickens, it has been described as a consequence of exposure to ammonia fumes that develop in damp litter and droppings (Riddell 1997); it is described as generally bilateral, with many birds recovering if exposure to ammonia fumes is eliminated. 'Bulgy eye' associated with M gallisepticum and other secondary infections has been recognised in red-legged partridges for many years (Beer 1988). Lesions associated with Aspergillus species were described in the eyes of chickens in 1940 by Reis (Richard 1997), and similar lesions have also been reported in young chicks and in turkeys (Richard 1997). Intraocular invasion by Aspergillus fumigatus in 15-day-old breeder chicks was reported by Beckman and others (1994). Invasion of the anterior chamber of the eye via the cornea by A fumigatus was described as an unusual manifestation of mycotic ophthalmic disease. It was suggested that the most likely pathogenesis in that case was initial damage by fumes or ammonia in the birds' environment leading to corneal epithelial erosions or superficial keratitis. Avian pneumovirus and Newcastle disease (paramyxovirus type 1) can also present with conjunctivitis and unilateral swelling of the head (Alexander 1997); infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) infection in chickens can also cause conjunctivitis. A coronavirus closely related in genome organisation and in gene sequence to IBV was isolated from partridges (Alectoris species) in China (Cavanagh 2005). This short communication describes the investigation of an outbreak of mycotic keratoconjunctivitis in red-legged partridge chicks. Five hundred red-legged partridges introduced from France as day-old chicks (group M) were placed in one 'Burgate' brooder house approximately 2.4 m x 2.4 m square and 1.5 m maximum height. The heat source for the birds was propane gas heaters. For the first week, the birds were retained within a hardboard circle, 2.1 mm in diameter. Super fine Partridge Crumbs (code 5651; Marsdens Feeds) were offered to the birds in flat plastic trays with a considerable amount dispersed throughout the floor of the house. Water was supplied through fountain drinkers, which were replenished at least twice daily. Chopped
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