Infection and transmission dynamics of Turkey arthritis reovirus in different age Turkeys. (December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kumar, Rahul; Sharafeldin, Tamer A.; Goyal, Sagar M.; Mor, Sunil K.; Porter, Robert E.
• Is Part Of: Microbial pathogenesis. Volume 173(2022)Part A
• Publication Date: 2022-12
• Subjects: Age susceptibility -- Horizontal transmission -- Sentinels -- Turkey arthritis reovirus -- Reovirus -- Virus shedding; TARV Turkey Arthritis Reovirus -- TCID Tissue Culture Infectious Dose -- DOA Days Of Age -- CARV Chicken Arthritis Reovirus -- rRT-PCR real time RT-PCR -- HBSS Hanks'balanced salt solution -- CT Cycle Threshold -- H&E Hematoxylin and Eosin -- EDTA Ethylene Diamine Tetra-acetic Acid -- Direct FAT Direct Fluorescent Antibody Tests; Pathogenic microorganisms -- Periodicals; Pathology, Molecular -- Periodicals; Communicable Diseases -- microbiology -- Periodicals; Communicable Diseases -- parasitology -- Periodicals; Micro-organismes pathogènes -- Périodiques; Pathologie moléculaire -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 616.9041
• DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2022.105790
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0882-4010

Abstract

Abstract: Turkey arthritis reovirus (TARV) has been established as a cause of lameness in meat type turkeys in the past decade. However, no information is available on the age susceptibility of TARV or its transmission dynamics. We conducted this study to determine the age at which turkey poults are susceptible to TARV infection and whether infected birds can horizontally transmit the virus to their non-infected pen mates (sentinels). Five groups of turkeys were orally inoculated with TARV (∼10 6 TCID50 /ml) at 2, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of age (DOA). Two days after each challenge, four uninfected sentinel turkeys of equal age were added to the virus-inoculated groups. At one- and two-weeks post infection, turkeys from each group, including two sentinels, were euthanized followed by necropsy. Inoculated birds in all age groups had TARV replication in the intestine and gastrocnemius tendon with no statistically significant variation at p < 0.5. Furthermore, the inoculated birds at different age groups showed consistently high gastrocnemius tendon histologic lesion scores while birds in the 28-days-old age group had numerically lower lesion scores at 14 days post inoculation (dpi). The sentinels, in turn, also showed virus replication in their intestines and tendons and histologic lesions in gastrocnemius tendons. The findings indicate that turkeys at the age of 28 days or less are susceptible to infection with TARV following oral challenge. It was also found that TARV-infected birds could transmit the infection to naïve sentinel turkeys of the same age. Highlights: Five groups of turkeys were orally inoculated with TARV at different ages. Inoculated and sentinel birds in all age groups showed virus replication in the intestine and gastrocnemius tendon. Inoculated and sentinel birds in all age groups showed consistently high gastrocnemius tendon histologic lesion scores. Turkeys are susceptible to TARV infection following oral challenge up to 28 days of age. TARV-infected birds could transmit the infection to the same age naïve sentinel turkeys.