Pathogenesis of an acute viral hepatitis: inclusion body hepatitis in the chicken

Abstract

The pathogenesis of inclusion body hepatitis was studied following the oral administration of a serotype 8 strain of avian adenovirus into 2-day-old specific pathogen free chickens. Viral antigens were detected in tissues at various times post inoculation (pi) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and by immunocytochemistry. Viral antigens were detected in intestinal epithelium from 12h to 13 days pi and in the plasma fraction of blood by 24 h pi. A biphasic, cell-free viremia with peaks at 2 and 7 days pi was recorded. Antigens were first detected in the liver from 2 days and reached peak levels at 6 days pi. The second peak of viral antigens in blood plasma was probably due to release of virus from damaged hepatic cells. Initially, viral antigens in the liver were restricted to cells lining the sinusoids but increasing involvement of hepatocytes occurred with time. Small amounts of viral antigens were detected in other tissues. Following the appearance of neutralizing antibodies in serum from 7 days pi, the levels of viral antigens in all tissues decreased and were undetectable by 15 days pi. This viral hepatitis of chickens is possibly a useful model for other viral infections where a cell-free viremic phase is important for spread of virus from primary sites to target organs, such as the liver.

Identification and characterization of an avian adenovirus isolated from a ‘spiking mortality syndrome’ field outbreak in broilers on the Delmarva Peninsula, USA

“…Experimentally-induced IBH by imitation of natural infection routes has also been reported by Fadly & Winterfield (1973), Gallina et al, (1973), Winterfield et al, (1973, and Saifuddin & Wilks (1991) with FAVl, FAV5 and FAV8 virus strains. Other workers have not been able to produce an IBH with FAV viruses by natural routes of infection (Kawamura & Tsubahara, 1963;McDougall & Peters, 1974;McCracken et al, 1976).…”

Chronological analysis of gross and histological lesions induced by field strains of fowl adenovirus serotypes 1, 8b and 11 in one-day-old chickens

“…The pathology of FAdV-11 infection was examined over four time points (Mendelson et al, 1995), and several FAdV-E serotypes were studied with dose rate and mortality as a measure of virulence (Erny et al, 1991). Also kinetics of FAdV-8 has been studied in detail in SPF chickens (Saifuddin & Wilks, 1991). However, there appears to be no report comparing in detail the gross and microscopic lesions as well as viral presence of three different serotypes of FAdV belonging to different species groups.…”

Pyrosequencing analysis for a rapid classification of fowl adenovirus species

“…Finally as demonstrated by characterization of FAdVs isolated in different parts of the world, the majority of IBH-associated viruses were grouped in FAdV species E (Erny et al, 1991;Saifuddin & Wilks, 1991;Ojkic et al, 2008) and species D (McFerran et al, 1976;Ojkic et al, 2008); and these species can be easily and rapidly detected using the pyrosequencing method.…”

“…Characterization of FAdVs isolated in Canada (Ojkic et al, 2008), New Zealand (Saifuddin & Wilks, 1991) and Australia (Erny et al, 1991) showed that the IBH syndrome is mainly associated with FAdV species E and D, while species A and C have been less frequently found in severe IBH cases (Toro et al, 1999;Ojkic et al, 2008). FAdV classification is therefore very useful for epidemiological tracing and is of critical importance where vaccination is to be used for the control of the disease (Toro et al, 2002;Jadhao et al, 2003;Balamurugan & Kataria, 2004;Steer et al, 2009).…”