DETECTION OF ADENOVIRUS ASSOCIATED WITH INCLUSION BODY HEPATITIS IN CHICKENS

Abstract

Inclusion body hepatitis is one of the disease that cause economic loses in poultry industry. Infection with the fowl adenovirus leads to the illness known as inclusion body hepatitis. Affected chickens showed dullness, depression, ruffled feathers and mild greenish diarrhea with low morbidity and high mortality. Seventy-five samples were collected from various areas around Iraq, including Diyala, Karbala and Tikrit, that were thought to be infected with the fowl adenovirus.

The infected chickens ranged in age from 25 to 45 days. After that viral nucleic acid (DNA) was isolated from collected livers. This was followed by testing using conventional PCR by amplification of the Loop 1 gene, which yielded a positive result for the presence of fowl adenovirus. Avian species are at risk of inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) infection, with subclinical infection being the most common type. The study reveals that the liver is affected by a disease that can be diagnosed through necropsy findings such as the presence of multiple genotypes such as FAdV-4, FAdV-8b and E. Molecular tools like PCR offer superior accuracy and sensitivity compared to seroprevalence techniques, which are not specific to the species or type of adenoviruses or their co-infecting illnesses. The current research aimed to clinical diagnosis of adenovirus in chickens and confirmed diagnosis by conventional PCR.