A fatal adenovirus infection of broiler chickens: inclusion body hepatitis
Wells, R.J.; Harrigan, K.
Veterinary Record 94(21): 481-482
1974
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-4900 PMID: 4211755 Document Number: 73062
Inclusion body hepatitis had been reported from USA, Canada and Northern Ireland. In 1967, a similar disease appeared in Australia and recurred in 1971, 1972 and 1973. When virus isolated from the liver of affected birds was used to infect one-week-old SPF chickens, signs of illness appeared within 50-70 hours, and some birds died. The outstanding lesion in birds which died or were killed was a swollen, yellow, friable liver with occasional petechiae on the surface. Histologically there was widespread hepatic necrosis, with typical Cowdry type-A intranuclear inclusion bodies. Recovery was rapid and, by 8 days, the livers were normal apart from a few foci of mononuclear cell infiltrations. Thin sections of liver examined by electron microscopy showed intranuclear crystalline arrays typical of adenovirus infection.