Detection and characterization of chicken astrovirus associated with hatchery disease in commercial day‑old turkeys in southwestern Nigeria
Date
2021-03-23
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Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Abstract
Infectious diseases are a major obstacle to profitable poultry production in Nigeria due to the mortality and severe economic
losses they cause. In particular, they are a potent threat to attainment of the food security goals of government and national
self-sufficiency in food production. Thus, there is a need for continuous monitoring of the nation’s poultry population for
these diseases. As part of an ongoing investigation of enteric viruses associated with poor performance or hatchery diseases
in commercial poultry in southwestern Nigeria, intestinal contents from 97 condemned or runted day-old commercial turkey
poults were examined for turkey astroviruses, infectious bronchitis virus, chicken astrovirus (CAstV), avian nephritis virus,
avian rotavirus, avian reovirus, fowl adenovirus, and chicken parvovirus by virus isolation, electron microscopy (EM), polymerase
chain reaction (PCR), and reverse transcription PCR. The samples were collected from five commercial hatcheries
and five farms located in southwestern Nigeria. While all samples tested negative for other viruses, CAstV was detected in
the majority (83.5%) of the birds, although some pleomorphic virus-like particles with surface projections that appeared
fringed or fimbriated were observed in five of the cell culture samples by EM. Phylogenetic analysis revealed these CAstV
strains belonged to the Bi clade. These findings not only implicate CAstV as the major cause of hatchery condemnations in
commercial turkeys in southwestern Nigeria but also highlight the need for experimental studies to further establish its role
in this disease condition.
Description
Publication history: Accepted - 25 January 2021; Published - 23 March 2021.
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Citation
Adebiyi, A. I., Mcilwaine, K., Oluwayelu, D. O. and Smyth, V. J. (2021) ‘Detection and characterization of chicken astrovirus associated with hatchery disease in commercial day-old turkeys in southwestern Nigeria’, Archives of Virology. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi: 10.1007/s00705-021-05034-w.