Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fayetteville, Arkansas » Poultry Production and Product Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #153549
Title: COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE PATHOGENICITY OF SELECTED STRAINS OF AVIAN REOVIRUSES.

Author
item PANDA, A - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item CLARK, F - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item Rath, Narayan
item BEASLEY, J - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

Submitted to: Indian Veterinary Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/27/2003
Publication Date: 11/1/2003
Citation: PANDA, A., CLARK, F.D., RATH, N.C., BEASLEY, J.N. COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE PATHOGENICITY OF SELECTED STRAINS OF AVIAN REOVIRUSES. INDIAN VETERINARY JOURNAL. 2003. V. 80. P. 1094-1099.

Interpretive Summary: Reoviruses cause lameness and prevent nutrient utilization in poultry causing a disease called 'malabsorption syndrome'. Some of the reoviruses which infect turkeys can infect chickens as well. We grew the reoviruses isolated from both chickens and turkeys in laboratory and inoculated them to both chickens and turkeys to assess cross infectivity. The infectivity was assessed by pathologies produced in the inoculated birds. Our results show that some reoviruse strains can broadly infect both chickens and turkeys.

Technical Abstract: Reoviruses cause arthritis and are implicated in malabsorption syndrome in poultry. They have also been isolated from turkeys with arthritis. These turkey strains were found to be pathogenic to chickens. The core virus particle surrounds 10 segments of RNA which are complementary double-stranded molecules. The reovirus genome can be separated into three large (L1, L2, L3), three medium (M1, M2, M3) and four small (S1, S2, S3, S4) RNA segments by poly acrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The objectives of the present study were to compare the pathogenicity of various strains of avian reoviruses isolated from chickens and turkeys, using in vitro and in vivo techniques. The viruses grown in vitro, in chicken and turkey culture cells, were inoculated into chickens and turkeys. This helped to assess their effects in both species of birds and to check whether chicken reoviruses adapted in turkey tissue culture cells in vitro, could produce any pathological changes in vivo and vice versa.