Other Viral Infections: Avian Hepatitis E Virus Infections

Histologic lesions were detected in the cervical and thoracic dorsal root ganglia 132 hours after intracerebral inoculation of avian encephalomyelitis virus, preceding by 24 hours the appearance of similar lesions in the lumbar segment. Microscopic changes were sequentially progressive from initial lesions at 132 hours to the final examination, at 432 hours. Sequential changes consisted of: mild enlargement of vascular endothelium and mantle capsule cells; axonal reaction-type neuronal degeneration leading to acute neuronal necrosis; perivascular accumulations of lymphocytes; and interstitial accumulations of lymphocytes, large mononuclear cells, and fewer microglia, which (combined with perivascular cuffing) replaced most ganglionic parenchyma. Detection of viral antigen in the spinal ganglia was inconsistent. Only an occasional ganglionic cell contained a few fluorescent granules of viral antigen.

Avian encephalomyelitis: pathogenesis and histologic features of dorsal root ganglia lesions in chicks.

Other Viral Infections

Avian encephalomyelitis (AE) is a widespread virus disease of young chickens, characterized by incoordination, bilateral ataxia, paresis, and, in some cases, head and neck tremors. Experimentally, the disease has been produced by different routes of inoculation in chickens. Natural infection has been reported only in chickens, pheasants, and coturnix quail. Turkey poults, ducklings, squabs, and guinea fowl have been infected experimentally with AE virus (7). Feibel et al. (1) observed some differences in susceptibility between different breeds of chickens and their sex-linked crosses. This study compared the infectivity, incubation period, and clinical response of standard-bred chicks, chicks of different inbred lines, turkey poults, and adult quail to AE virus inoculation, and recorded observations on four serial passages of AE virus in suckling mice.

West Jl

Papers

Research note: some observations on experimental avian encephalomyelitis.