Concurrent infection in chickens with fowlpox virus and infectious laryngotracheitis virus as detected by immunohistochemistry and a multiplex polymerase chain reaction technique

A concurrent infection of chickens with infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV), a herpesvirus, and fowlpox virus (FWPV), an avipoxvirus, is described. Two techniques, an immunohistochemistry (IHC) technique and a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), were used to examine 11 tissue samples from chickens clinically diagnosed as FWPV-infected, but only IHC was used to examine six tissue-paraffin blocks prepared from turkeys suspected of having FWPV infection. By multiplex PCR, both FWPV and ILTV were detected from three chicken samples (FI-90, FI-93, and FI-94); both FWPV and ILTV were detected from only two samples (FI-93 and FI-94) by IHC. All chicken samples were positive for FWPV by both PCR and IHC. Viral DNA from these samples was further confirmed by restriction enzyme analysis. When turkey samples were analyzed by the double-stain IHC, all six samples showed the presence of FWPV antigens, but no ILTV antigens. The double IHC technique, using monoclonal antibodies against FWPV and ILTV, was successful in simultaneous demonstration of specific FWPV and ILTV antigens colocalized in infected tissue samples as well as within individual cells. This paper emphasizes the importance of reliable tests that detect specifically the presence of ILTV and FWPV in infected tissue samples. The multiplex PCR assay holds potential to be versatile, rapid, and more sensitive (100%) than IHC (67%) for the simultaneous detection of two different avian viruses. Furthermore, the presence of mixed infection should always be kept in mind in the virologic analysis of respiratory sickness of poultry.