Replication of a waterfowl-origin influenza virus in the kidney and intestine of chickens

Intravenous inoculation of chickens with a waterfowl-origin type A influenza virus resulted in high titers of virus in kidney tissues and viral nucleoprotein in renal tubular epithelial cells and in intestinal mucosal epithelial cells. Virus titers in kidneys of four of eight clinically normal chickens sampled on days 3 and 5 postinoculation (PI), one dead chicken on day 3 PI, and one dead chicken on day 7 PI exceeded 10(6) mean embryo infectious dose per gram of tissue. Using immunofluorescent and immunoperoxidase staining, viral nucleoprotein was identified in the cytoplasm and nucleus of tubular epithelial cells in kidneys and in nucleus of mucosal epithelial cells lining villi in the lower small intestine. Based on the low intravenous pathogenicity index for this virus (0.3) along with the high virus titers in kidney tissues and localization of viral antigen in kidney important site for replication of avian influenza (AI) virus of low pathogenicity. Recovery of type A influenza viruses from cloacal swabs could result from viral replication in kidneys as well as in the lower intestine and/or the bursa of Fabricius.     

Renal pathology in specific-pathogen-free chickens inoculated with a waterfowl-origin type A influenza virus

Five-week-old specific-pathogen-free chickens inoculated intravenously with a waterfowl-origin type A influenza virus (A/mallard/Ohio/184/86) had swollen and mottled kidneys on days 3, 5, and 7 postinoculation (PI) and multiple raised nodules on days 5, 10, and 20 PI. Histologically, the kidneys had multifocal heterophilic tubulointerstitial nephritis with epithelial necrosis on day 3 PI, lymphoplasmacytic tubulointerstitial nephritis on day 5 PI, and fibrosing interstitial nephritis with cortical lobular collapse, atrophic tubules, glomerular aggregates, and interstitial lymphoid follicles and aggregates on days 7, 10, and 20 PI. Heterophilic intratubular medullary-cone nephritis was present in dead or moribund chickens on days 3 and 5 PI. Furthermore, the presence of mild multifocal heterophilic tubulointerstitial nephritis on day 20 PI suggests that a waterfowl-origin strain of type A influenza virus of low pathogenicity has the potential to produce acute and chronic active nephritis in the chicken and that the kidney is a potential site for influenza viral persistence. The acute, subacute, and chronic histopathologic renal lesions of this influenza virus in chickens are similar to lesions reported for some nephropathogenic infectious bronchitis viruses and avian nephritis picornavirus.     

Use of pilocarpine-induced alimentary secretions to measure intestinal shedding of Salmonella enteritidis in chickens.

A technique has been developed that uses the parasympathomimetic drug pilocarpine to induce alimentary secretions in chickens for measuring local immune responses to Salmonella enteritidis strain SE6. A study was conducted to determine if these secretions could also be used to detect intestinal SE6 shedding. White leghorn chickens infected with 1 x 10(9) SE6 were samples weekly using cloacal swabs, and the isolation rates from these samples were compared with alimentary secretions induced by oral administration of phosphate-buffered saline followed 45 minutes later with an intraperitoneal injection of 5% pilocarpine. At 9 days postinfection, isolation rates from the alimentary secretions were significantly higher than isolation rates from the swabs, and by day 16 they were double those from the swabs. In separate small experiments, alimentary secretions induced by pilocarpine alone also had significantly more SE6 isolations than did cloacal swabs on two of three sampling times examined. Direct culture of feces resulted in numerically but not significantly greater SE6 isolations than did cloacal swabs on two of three sampling times. These results indicate that induced intestinal material is a better sample source than cloacal swabs for detecting S. enteritidis intestinal infections in chickens and could have many applications in intestinal pathogenesis research.     

Nephrotropic properties demonstrated by A/chicken/Alabama/75 (H4N8) following intravenous challenge of chickens.

Tissue tropism properties of A/chicken/Alabama/75 (H4N8) were examined after intravenous inoculation of 5-week-old specific-pathogen-free chickens. From 14 clinically normal chickens euthanatized on days 1-20 postinoculation, the frequencies of virus recovery were highest for cloacal swabs (86%), bursal swabs (64%), and kidney tissues (64%) and lowest for tracheal swabs (14%), thymus tissues (14%), bone-marrow swabs (7%), and brain tissues (0%). Evidence that the high frequency of virus recovery from kidney tissues was associated with virus replication in the kidney tissues was provided by high virus titers, ranging up to 10(9.5) mean embryo infectious dose per gram of kidney tissue, and by identification of intranuclear and intracytoplasmic type A influenza nucleoprotein in kidney cells using immunohistochemistry. Virus-recovery and virus titer results from three chickens that died on days 4 and 5 postinoculation paralleled the results from the clinically normal chickens. These findings indicate that A/chicken/Alabama/75 has nephrotropic properties similar to nephrotropic properties previously reported for waterfowl-origin type A influenza viruses and provide evidence that kidney lesions could be manifestations of systemic influenza infections in commercial laying chickens.     

Commercial immunoassay kits for the detection of influenza virus type A: evaluation of their use with poultry

Five antigen capture immunoassay test kits, Directigen Flu A (Becton Dickinson), QuickVue Influenza test kit (Quidel), FLU OIA (ThermoBiostar), Zstat Flu (ZymeTx, Inc.) and NOW FLU A Test (Binax) were used to detect avian influenza virus (AIV) in clinical specimens as per manufacturers' protocols. Each kit was shown to be specific for AIV propagated in embryonating chicken eggs (ECE); other respiratory viruses of poultry tested gave negative results. The Directigen Flu A kit proved to be 10-fold more sensitive than the other kits, capable of detecting 10(4.7) mean embryo lethal dose (ELD50)/ml in allantoic fluid; this is more sensitive than the hemagglutination test using chicken erythrocytes. None of the kits proved to be sufficiently sensitive to reliably detect AIV in oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs collected from chickens experimentally infected with AIV subtype H6N2. In two different experiments, individual swabs and pools of five or six swabs were tested. By virus isolation, 39 individual oropharyngeal swabs tested positive for AIV, but Directigen and Flu OIA only detected 2/39 and NOW FLU A 1/39. Zstat and QuickVue did not detect any. Five individual cloacal swabs positive by virus isolation were negative with all five kits. In a second experiment using pools of five swabs, 26 swab pools were positive by virus isolation and 5/26 were positive by Directigen, the only kit to provide any positive results. Five cloacal swab pools were also positive by virus isolation and 1/5 was positive by Directigen; all other test kits were negative. All of these experiments were performed using the H6N2 subtype of AIV. The results are disappointing, as the kits have proven to be insensitive for detecting AIV when compared with the gold standard, virus isolation. This limits their use in diagnostic field investigations. Individual or groups of chickens could be assumed to be positive for AIV if positive by any of the kits, but a negative result with any of the kits would not prove that birds were AIV free.     

Virus isolation from tracheal explant cultures and oropharyngeal swabs in attempts to detect persistent Newcastle disease virus infections in chickens

Three-to-seven-week-old broiler-type chickens were inoculated with Newcastle disease virus (NDV) by eye-drop (ED) or intratracheally (IT), and virus isolation was attempted from oropharyngeal (oral) swabs and medium harvested from tracheal explant cultures (TEC). The TEC were maintained in screw-capped tissue-culture flasks for at least 1 month, and medium harvested at regular feeding times was assayed for NDV and NDV antibody. The earliest and latest sample times were 3 and 21 days after NDV inoculation. The three experiments done were: Expt. 1, infection of nonvaccinates with NDV strain La Sota; Expt. 2, infection of NDV vaccinates and nonvaccinates with NDV strain Largo; and Expt. 3, infection of NDV vaccinates and nonvaccinates with NDV wild-type strain Kansas-Manhattan (KM) and two temperature-sensitive (ts) clones derived by J. S. Youngner from the KM strain. All experiments yielded similar results. On day 3 postinoculation (PI), most chickens were shedding virus recoverable by oral swabs and detectable in harvests from TEC prepared on that day. On day 7 PI, there was a sharp reduction in the frequency of virus-positive oral swabs, but there was no decline in the frequency of virus-positive TEC. On day 14 PI or later, all oral swabs and TEC were virus-negative, except for one chicken in Expt. 3 that was oral-swab-positive. There was no evidence of NDV persistence in the TEC of oral-swab-negative chickens on or after day 14 PI. The results of these experiments are in contrast with previous reports of the detection of latent NDV by virus isolation from harvests of TEC prepared 18 or more days PI. The ts clones of strain KM used in Expt. 3 induced a markedly poorer antibody response and were shed for a shorter time than the KM parental virus.     

Experimental infection of chickens, ducks and quails with the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) of the H5N1 subtype have spread since 2003 in poultry and wild birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. In Korea, the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks took place in 2003/2004, 2006/2007 and 2008. As the 2006/2007 isolates differ phylogenetically from the 2003/2004 isolates, we assessed the clinical responses of chickens, ducks and quails to intranasal inoculation of the 2006/2007 index case virus, A/chicken/Korea/IS/06. All the chickens and quails died on 3 days and 3-6 days post-inoculation (DPI), respectively, whilst the ducks only showed signs of mild depression. The uninoculated chickens and quails placed soon after with the inoculated flock died on 5.3 and 7.5 DPI, respectively. Both oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs were taken for all three species during various time intervals after inoculation. It was found that oropharyngeal swabs showed higher viral titers than in cloacal swabs applicable to all three avian species. The chickens and quails shed the virus until they died (up to 3 to 6 days after inoculation, respectively) whilst the ducks shed the virus on 2-4 DPI. The postmortem tissues collected from the chickens and quails on day 3 and days 4-5 and from clinically normal ducks that were euthanized on day 4 contained the virus. However, the ducks had significantly lower viral titers than the chickens or quails. Thus, the three avian species varied significantly in their clinical signs, mortality, tissue virus titers, and duration of virus shedding. Our observations suggest that duck and quail farms should be monitored particularly closely for the presence of HPAIV so that further virus transmission to other avian or mammalian hosts can be prevented.     

Tissue tropism of three cloacal isolates and Massachusetts strain of infectious bronchitis virus

Three virus isolates (ECV-1, -2, and -3) recovered from cloacae of chickens in flocks that experienced drops in egg production were identified as infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), based on characteristic embryo lesions, chloroform sensitivity, coronavirus morphology, and serology. Because these isolates were recovered from the cloacae of the hens, their tissue tropism was compared with the prototype strain of IBV, Massachusetts-41 (M-41), in experimentally inoculated chickens. During the 39-day period postinoculation (PI), virus isolation was attempted from digestive and respiratory tracts, kidney, and cloacal swabs. ECV-1, ECV-2, and M-41 were more frequently recovered from the cecal tonsils than from other tissues. ECV-1, ECV-3, and M-41 were also recovered from kidney for up to 39 days PI. ECV-2 and ECV-3 had a limited distribution in respiratory tissues, being isolated only sporadically from trachea, bronchus, and lung. Surprisingly, ECV-2 was isolated from esophagus at 2, 16, 30, and 39 days PI; otherwise, its distribution in other tissues was sporadic. Results confirmed that IBV, including M-41, can infect a variety of tissues and that some isolates may be recovered frequently from digestive tract tissues, particularly from the cecal tonsils.     

Experimental selection of virus derivatives with variations in virulence from a single low-pathogenicity H6N1 avian influenza virus field isolate

A mixture of viruses with variations in virulence is likely present within a low-pathogenicity avian influenza virus (LPAIV) population. An H6N1 AIV was isolated from a field case showing 3.8% weekly mortality and a 33% egg production drop in Taiwan. The pathologic lesions included proventricular hemorrhage and urate deposition in the kidneys and on visceral organs. From the field isolate, a done (2838N) that caused no lesions or death was obtained using limit dilution in chicken embryos and a done (2838V) that caused renal lesions and death was obtained using contact infection in chicks. Both clones were inoculated intranasally in 4-week-old specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens to test their virulence. Renal urate deposition was found in chickens inoculated with 2838V but not in chickens inoculated with 2838N. In situ hybridization, polymerase chain reaction, and virus isolation were used to confirm the spread of 2838V from the respiratory tract to the renal tissue. We found that contact infection in chickens is a good method to obtain a more virulent done from a heterogeneous virus population.     

Investigation of H7N2 avian influenza outbreaks in two broiler breeder flocks in Pennsylvania, 2001-02

An avian influenza (AI) outbreak occurred in meat-type chickens in central Pennsylvania from December 2001 to January 2002. Two broiler breeder flocks were initially infected almost simultaneously in early December. Avian influenza virus (AIV), H7N2 subtype, was isolated from the two premises in our laboratory. The H7N2 isolates were characterized as a low pathogenic strain at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories based on molecular sequencing of the virus hemagglutinin cleavage site and virus challenge studies in specific-pathogen-free leghorn chickens. However, clinical observations and pathologic findings indicated that this H7N2 virus appeared to be significantly pathogenic in meat-type chickens under field conditions. Follow-up investigation indicated that this H7N2 virus spread rapidly within each flock. Within 7 days of the recognized start of the outbreak, over 90% seroconversion was observed in the birds by the hemagglutination inhibition test. A diagnosis of AI was made within 24 hr of bird submission during this outbreak using a combination of virus detection by a same-day dot-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and virus isolation in embryonating chicken eggs. Follow-up investigation revealed that heavy virus shedding (90%-100% of birds shedding AIV) occurred between 4 and 7 days after disease onset, and a few birds (15%) continued to shed virus at 13 days post-disease onset, as detected by virus isolation on tracheal and cloacal swabs. AIV was not detected in or on eggs laid by the breeders during the testing phase of the outbreak. The two flocks were depopulated at 14 days after disease onset, and AIV was not detected on the two premises 23 days after depopulation.     

鸭源流感病毒人工感染鸡的病毒抗原定位动态

研究了由南京地区分离的鸭源流感病毒A/duck/Nanjing/21/95（H9N2？）感染商品来航鸡后，各组织脏器中病毒分离情况和病毒抗原分布。结果表明，禽流感病毒（AIV）可以从肾脏、肺脏、脾脏和心脏中分离出来，接种后3d(PI3），病毒在组织中的分离率最高，且又以肾脏的分离率最高。病毒抗原主要分布在肾小管上皮细胞、呼吸系统单核细胞和少量上皮细胞的胞核内，PI3时病毒抗原的检出率最高。这些结果表明，肾脏是该毒株复制的主要部位，肾脏的病变是病毒直接损伤的结果，而且该株AIV具备在呼吸系统内复制的潜力。     

H5N1亚型禽流感病毒感染海兰白鸡模型的建立

为建立H5N1亚型禽流感病毒感染海兰白鸡模型,本研究选取1株鹅源H5N1高致病性禽流感病毒A/goose/guangdong/1/96(H5N1)(简称GD1/96),测定其对4周龄海兰白鸡的半数致死量.感染模型试验中,将30只4周龄海兰白鸡随机分成3组,每组10只,5只直接感染,5只同居,试验组设置一个重复,将病毒液稀释至10^4.5EID₅₀,滴鼻、点眼各0.1 mL,对照组接种PBS,感染后24 h放入同居鸡;感染后连续观察14 d,记录死亡时间,每天采集咽喉拭子和泄殖腔拭子;感染组和同居组第3、5 天各剖解3只鸡,采集气管、肺脏、脑、脾脏、肾脏和十二指肠,进行病毒分离;qRT-PCR法分析感染组和同居组第3、5 天鸡肺组织中IFN-α和TNF-α的相对表达量.结果显示,GD1/96株的鸡胚半数感染量(EID₅₀)为10^-8.167/0.1 mL,对4周龄海兰白鸡的半数致死量为10^4.5 EID₅₀.感染模型试验结果显示,以10^4.5EID₅₀的攻毒剂量感染海兰白鸡,感染组鸡在感染后8 d全部死亡;在感染和同居3 d后,各组鸡的咽喉拭子和泄殖腔拭子均可检测到病毒;感染和同居后第3、5 天,各组鸡的6种组织中均可分离到高滴度的病毒;IFN-α和TNF-α在感染组和同居组的鸡肺脏组织中的表达量均显著增加(P <0.05).本试验建立了海兰白鸡的H5N1亚型禽流感病毒感染模型,为H5N1亚型禽流感病毒的致病机理及表达抗流感基因转基因鸡的研究奠定了基础.     

新城疫病毒HI抗体效价与流行株感染排毒之间的相关性

为了分析免疫鸡群中新城疫强毒感染流行的原因,明确抗体效价与流行株感染排毒率之间的关系,本研究以LaSota为抗原制备新城疫灭活疫苗,并以0.02mL和0.4mL的量分别免疫3周龄的SPF鸡10只。免疫后7、14、21d分别测定免疫鸡血清中的抗体HI效价。免疫后21d以基因Ⅶd亚型新城疫流行株JS5/05进行攻毒,攻毒后每天观察试验鸡的临床症状,并于攻毒后3、5、7d采集试验鸡的喉气管与泄殖腔棉拭样品进行病毒分离,结果显示,免疫3周后0.02mL和0.4mL疫苗免疫组鸡的血清HI抗体平均效价分别为5.4log2和8.2log2;0.02mL免疫组在攻毒后的排毒率达到100%,且排毒时间较长,而0.4mL免疫组在攻毒后的排毒率明显降低,且排毒时间较短。上述结果表明新城疫抗体效价与流行株感染排毒率之间存在明显的负相关。     

Pathogenicity of a Hong Kong-origin H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus for emus, geese, ducks, and pigeons

The H5N1 type A influenza viruses that emerged in Hong Kong in 1997 are a unique lineage of type A influenza viruses with the capacity to transmit directly from chickens to humans and produce significant disease and mortality in both of these hosts. The objective of this study was to ascertain the susceptibility of emus (Dramaius novaehollandiae), domestic geese (Anser anser domesticus), domestic ducks (Anas platyrhynchos), and pigeons (Columba livia) to intranasal (i.n.) inoculation with the A/chicken/Hong Kong/220/97 (H5N1) highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. No mortality occurred within 10 days postinoculation (DPI) in the four species investigated, and clinical disease, evident as neurologic dysfunction, was observed exclusively in emus and geese. Grossly, pancreatic mottling and splenomegaly were identified in these two species. In addition, the geese had cerebral malacia and thymic and bursal atrophy. Histologically, both the emus and geese developed pancreatitis, meningoencephalitis, and mild myocarditis. Influenza viral antigen was demonstrated in areas with histologic lesions up to 10 DPI in the geese. Virus was reisolated from oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs and from the lung, brain, and kidney of the emus and geese. Moderate splenomegaly was observed grossly in the ducks. Viral infection of the ducks was pneumotropic, as evidenced by mild inflammatory lesions in the respiratory tract and virus reisolation from oropharyngeal swabs and from a lung. Pigeons were resistant to HK/220 infection, lacking gross and histologic lesions, viral antigen, and reisolation of virus. These results imply that emus and geese are susceptible to i.n. inoculation with the HK/220 virus, whereas ducks and pigeons are more resistant. These latter two species probably played a minimal epidemiologic role in the perpetuation of the H5N1 Hong Kong-origin influenza viruses.     

Viral pathogenesis of a nephrotropic infectious bronchitis virus isolated from commercial pullets.

Infectious bronchitis was diagnosed in 3-to-4-week-old pullets from an outbreak in a commercial flock in California. The disease was characterized by head swelling, watery discharge from the eyes and nostrils, and urates in kidneys. Mortality ranged from 1.8% to 12.5% per week. The isolation of a coronavirus from a suspension of pooled kidneys from clinically ill chickens at the fifth passage in 10-day-old chicken embryos, gross and histologic renal lesions, and seroconversion by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in inoculated birds suggested that the virus isolated was a nephrotrophic strain of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). The virus isolate was found to be a previously unrecognized serotype, based on virus neutralization tests performed in embryonated chicken eggs. Nephropathogenicity of the IBV isolate was confirmed by inoculation of the viral isolate into specific-pathogen-free chicks and demonstration of renal lesions. The isolation of nephrotropic strains of IBV has not been reported previously from poultry in California.     

Biological properties of waterfowl-origin type A influenza viruses in chickens.

The replicative abilities and tissue tropism properties of 13 non-pathogenic or low-pathogenic waterfowl-origin type A influenza isolates recovered in 1986 were examined in chickens. Following intravenous challenge, reisolation of challenge virus was attempted from swabs of the luminal surfaces of the cloaca, jejunum, ileum, bursa, trachea, and air sacs and from swabs of bone marrow and liver tissues. Virus-isolation attempts were also accomplished on brain, thymus, spleen, pancreas, gonad, kidney, blood, and lung tissues. The overall frequency of influenza virus recovery for each experiment ranged from 3.1% to 49.3%. For all experiments combined, 58.3% of the kidney tissues and 62.9% of the cloacal swab samples collected on days 1 to 10 postinoculation were positive for challenge virus recovery. Virus titers up to 10(8.7) mean embryo infective dose per gram of kidney tissue were demonstrated in clinically normal chickens. Distinct biological variations and nephrotropism appear to exist among the corporate properties of virus populations making up each of the 13 waterfowl-origin type A influenza isolates.     

A single vaccination of commercial broilers does not reduce transmission of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza

ABSTRACT: Vaccination of chickens has become routine practice in Asian countries in which H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is endemically present. This mainly applies to layer and breeder flocks, but broilers are usually left unvaccinated. Here we investigate whether vaccination is able to reduce HPAI H5N1 virus transmission among broiler chickens. Four sets of experiments were carried out, each consisting of 22 replicate trials containing a pair of birds. Experiments 1-3 were carried out with four-week-old birds that were unvaccinated, and vaccinated at day 1 or at day 10 of age. Experiment 4 was carried out with unvaccinated day-old broiler chicks. One chicken in each trial was inoculated with H5N1 HPAI virus. One chicken in each trial was inoculated with virus. The course of the infection chain was monitored by serological analysis, and by virus isolation performed on tracheal and cloacal swabs. The analyses were based on a stochastic SEIR model using a Bayesian inferential framework. When inoculation was carried out at the 28th day of life, transmission was efficient in unvaccinated birds, and in birds vaccinated at first or tenth day of life. In these experiments estimates of the latent period (~1.0 day), infectious period (~3.3 days), and transmission rate parameter (~1.4 per day) were similar, as were estimates of the reproduction number (~4) and generation interval (~1.4 day). Transmission was significantly less efficient in unvaccinated chickens when inoculation was carried out on the first day of life. These results show that vaccination of broiler chickens does not reduce transmission, and suggest that this may be due to the interference of maternal immunity.