Pathogenicity of Turkey Coronavirus in Turkeys and Chickens

Abstract

We designed this study to compare the replication potential of turkey coronavirus (TCV) and its effect in chickens and turkeys and to study the effect of singleand combined infection of turkey poults with TCV and astrovirus. We studied the pathogenicity of TCV in experimentally inoculated turkey poults and chickens by observing the dinical signs and gross lesions. Two trials were conducted with 1-day-old and 4-wk-old specific-pathogen-free turkey poults and chickens. One-day-old turkey poults developed diarrhea at 48 hr postinoculation. Poults euthanatized at 3, 5, and 7 days postinoculation had flaccid, pale, and thin-walled intestines with watery contents. The 4-wk-old turkeys had no clinical signs or gross lesions. One-day-old and 4-wk-old chicks developed no clinical signs or gross lesions although the TCV was detected in gut contents of the birds throughout the experimental period (14 days). In another experiment, mean plasma D-xylose concentrations in 3-day-old turkey poults inoculated with TCV, turkey astrovirus, or a combination of both viruses were significantly lower than in the uninoculated controls.

Infectious Bronchitis Virus in Captured Free-Living, Free-Range and Intensively Reared Birds in Southwest Nigeria

“…Thus, avian coronavirus from one species has been shown to replicate in other avian species without observation of clinical signs in most instances [13,15]. Chickens are the main natural hosts of IBV [5].…”

Isolation of avian infectious bronchitis coronavirus from domestic peafowl (Pavo cristatus) and teal (Anas)

“…From both practical and academic viewpoints, it is important to understand the extent to which an avian coronavirus from one species can replicate in another. Although it has been shown that an avian coronavirus from one species can replicate in other avian species, no clinical signs are observed in most instances (Lister et al, 1985;Guy, 2000;Ismail et al, 2003).…”

“…From both practical and academic viewpoints, it is important to understand the extent to which an avian coronavirus from one species can replicate in another. Although it has been shown that an avian coronavirus from one species can replicate in other avian species, no clinical signs are observed in most instances (Lister et al, 1985;Guy, 2000;Ismail et al, 2003).In order to investigate the extent to which coronaviruses can replicate in bird species beside chickens, turkeys, pheasants, pigeons and guineafowl, 55 specimens from four avian species were collected from apparently healthy domestic bird flocks in Guangdong province, China, in 2003. These specimens were tested for the presence of coronaviruses by using RT-PCR (Stephensen et al, 1999) and virus isolation in 9-to 11-day-old specific-pathogenfree (SPF) chicken embryos.…”

Infection with a pathogenic turkey coronavirus isolate negatively affects growth performance and intestinal morphology of young turkey poults in Canada

“…It has been shown previously that birds infected with TCoV usually demonstrate poor growth rate compared with uninfected poults of the same age (Brown et al, 1997;Breslin et al, 2000;Guy et al, 2000;Ismail et al, 2003). Turkeys infected with TCoV can demonstrate depression, anorexia and decreased water consumption associated with dehydration, watery diarrhoea and poor growth performance (Guy, 2003;Cavanagh, 2005;Teixeira et al, 2007).…”

“…TCoV can spread rapidly via the faecalÁoral route (Naqi et al, 1972) and can infect turkey at different ages, resulting in high morbidity and varying mortality. Affected birds usually have diarrhoea, ruffled feathers, decreased feed and water consumption in addition to poor growth rate (Barnes et al, 1997;Yu et al, 2000;Ismail et al, 2003). Even after the disappearance of the clinical signs, infected birds can still shed TCoV particles in their droppings up to 7 weeks post infection (Larsen, 1979;Breslin et al, 2000, Gomaa et al, 2009.…”