The Detection of Murray Valley Encephalitis Antibodies in Hens’ Eggs

Dynamics of Passive Immunity to West Nile Virus in Domestic Chickens (Gallus Gallus Domesticus)

“…Passive transfer of maternal antibody in birds has been documented for several members of the Japanese encephalitis virus serocomplex of flaviviruses, including Murray Valley encephalitis virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV). [1][2][3][4][5][6] In the case of West Nile virus (WNV; family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus), maternally derived neutralizing antibodies were detected in a colony of wild-caught rock pigeons (Columba livia) that bred in captivity 7 and in a captive colony of Eastern screech owls (Megascops asio), 8 both after natural WNV infection of adults. Maternal antibodies to WNV in pigeon squabs persisted for 19-33 days post-hatch (PH), whereas Eastern screech owlets had circulating maternal antibody when sampled between 1 and 27 days PH, although in neither case was the protective nature of these antibodies studied.…”

Antibody to Murray Valley Encephalitis and Louping‐ill Viruses in Australia and Papua‐new Guinea

“…The years of presumed absence of virus were 1951·1952 (Anderson and Eagle, 1953;Reeves et alii, 1954), 1952(Anderson et alii, 1954-1955and 1956·1957 (Anderson et alii, 1958. The present report adds the year 1957-1958. MARCH 25, 1961 geographical isolation of the mission stations in the Northern Territory, it was decided that collection of eggs would be a more practical proposition than the bleeding of chickens.…”

“…Apart from dengue, the only Group B arthropod-borne virus so far reported in Australia and New Guinea has been that of MVE, and the serological observations in New Guinea in 1956-1957(Anderson et alii, 1960 and in the Mitchell River area of Queensland in 1957 (Doherty et alii, 1959), both recorded more sera "positive" to MVE than to its nearest relative, Japanese B encephalitis virus. This might reasonably suggest that MVE virus was dominant; but the possibility remains that some infections were due to Japanese B encephalitis or another similar virus.…”

“…Eggs of wild birds were found to carry antibody to MVE after the epizootic in 1951 (Anderson, 1953), and McLean (1953) and Warner (1957) found that antibody titres against MVE virus were about the same in the serum of a chicken as in the yolk of the egg laid by that chicken. In the present study, because of the FIGURE I. Map of Australia and New Guinea to show presumed presence of Group B arthropod-borne virus.…”