Visceral Marek's disease in white-peafowl (Pavo cristatus)

Abstract

Marek's disease (MD) is a lymphoproliferative disorder caused by Gallid herpesvirus 2 (MDV) that infects mainly domestic gallinaceous birds although wild birds may occasionally be affected. The current report describes the anatomopathological and molecular findings of a case of MD in a white-peafowl (Pavo cristatus). The signs included apathy, hyporexia, and diarrhea. Grossly, 0.5 to 1.5cm in diameter, yellow, soft nodules were observed in the skeletal muscle, lung, kidney, air sacs, small intestine, heart, ovary, ventriculus, and proventriculus. Microscopically, numerous atypical round neoplastic cells were noted. The molecular detection of MDV DNA was implemented to amplify part of the meq gene and products were sequenced for the phylogenetic analysis. Template DNA was obtained from tissues of the affected bird and from blood of all the gallinaceous birds of the Zoo. The expected amplicon for the partial amplification of MDV meq gene was obtained and the amplicons were sequenced. Sequences obtained enabled grouping the strain (accession no. KT768121) with MDV serotype 1 strains from the GenBank. Based on the anatomopathological and molecular findings, the diagnosis of MD in a whitepeafowl was reached, and to the authors' knowledge, no previous report regarding MD was published in Pavo cristatus.Keywords: Marek's disease, lymphoma, oncogenic virus, MDV, herpesvirus -chave: doença de Marek, linfoma, vírus oncogênico, MDV, herpesvírus RESUMO Doença de Marek (MD) é uma desordem linfoproliferativa causada pelo Gallid herpesvirus 2 (MDV), que infecta principalmente galináceos domésticos, porém aves silvestres podem ser ocasionalmente afetadas. O presente relato descreve os achados anatomopatológicos e moleculares de um caso de MD em um pavão-branco (Pavo cristatus Palavras

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Review on Virulence and Diagnostic Methods of Mareks Disease Virus in Chickens

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