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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Exotic & Emerging Avian Viral Diseases Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #323923

Title: Inactivation of avian influenza virus in chicken litter as a potential method to decontaminate poultry houses

Author
item STEPHENS, CHRIS - Orise Fellow
item Spackman, Erica

Submitted to: American Association of Avian Pathologists
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/29/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Full cleaning and disinfection of a poultry house after an avian influenza virus (AIV) outbreak is expensive and labor intensive. An alternative to full house cleaning and disinfection is to inactivate the virus with high temperatures within the house. Litter in the house normally has a high virus load and is a difficult material to decontaminate, therefore, litter was used as a matrix to evaluate the inactivation profile of AIV. Inactivation profiles were evaluated at 50°F-120°F at 10 degree intervals. Vials containing 1.5-2.0g of dry or wet litter were inoculated with 0.1ml of a recombinant H5N1 low pathogenic (LP) AIV with the hemagglutinin (HA) protein of A/gyrfalcon/WA/41088/14 (with an LP cleavage site) (10^7.4 50% egg infectious dose per vial). The vials were then placed in 1L containers composed of the same litter as the litter in the vials. Litter temperature and moisture levels were monitored for each temperature evaluated. Samples were taken at regular intervals for each temperature. Virus was extracted from each sample, and titrated in embryonated chicken eggs to determine the rate of inactivation. Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was extracted from each sample for real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) analysis to determine the rate of viral RNA decay. The results from this experiment can be used as a guide for the length of incubation time required, at a specific temperature that will inactivate AIV inside of a poultry house.