Serological survey for the presence of antibodies to Egg Drop Syndrome 1976 virus in poultry farms in Iraq

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1 Rev. sci. tech. Off. int. Epiz., 1982, 1 (1), Serological survey for the presence of antibodies to Egg Drop Syndrome 1976 virus in poultry farms in Iraq by Jaafir N.A. AL-HILLY, B.V.M.S., M. Sc., Hatem H. KHALIL, Maryam O. NANO, Najwa A. WHAB and Sana S. AZIZ(*) INTRODUCTION Since 1976, an important economical syndrome associated with decreased egg production has been described in laying flocks in Holland and designated Egg Drop Syndrome 1976 (EDS 76) (11). The responsible agent is a hemagglutinating adenovirus (10). Since that time, the disease was described in Northern Ireland (6), in England (2, 4), France (8), Italy (9), Belgium (7), Denmark (1), Hungary (5) and United States (3), where both serological studies and virus isolation were performed. The aim of this study is to confirm the presence of antibodies to EDS 76 virus by hemagglutination-inhibition test in laying and breeding flocks in Iraq. MATERIALS AND METHODS ANIMALS Blood samples were taken by heart puncture from laying and breeding flocks showing fall in egg production below the standard predicted level. In some of these flocks, the egg shells were misshapen or soft and in other flocks shellless eggs with chalk-like deposits were observed. ANTIGEN The viral antigen used was a concentrated and inactivated adenovirus 127 antigen. Its hemagglutination titer was estimated and 4 HA units were used in all tests. (*) Veterinary Research Institute, Abu-Graib, Iraq.

2 154 SEROLOGY Sera were tested by hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test in microtiter U plates, using 0.8% washed fowl erythrocytes. The serum was considered positive when its titer was at least 1:32. RESULTS A total of 2,444 serum samples were collected from 13 laying and breeding flocks which had problems in production. The results of the HI test performed on these sera are given in Table sera out of the 2,444 sera tested (29.3%) were positive and most of them came from weeks old chickens. TABLE 1 : Incidence of hemagglutination-inhibition antibodies against EDS 76 virus (isolate 127) in laying and breeding flocks. Farm Age in N of sera No. of % weeks tested positive positive Muradia Basrah Tarmiah Arbil Kirkuk Babylon Anbar Sulaminah Quadisiah Suwairah 2nd Al-Dour Al-Tharthar Nienveh The distribution of the individual titers of the positive sera is given in Table 2. Some shell-less eggs (Fig. 1) and eggs with chalk-like deposits (Fig. 2) were collected from infected poultry farms which suffered from drop in egg production.

3 FIG. 1. Showing shell-less eggs. FIG. 2. Showing eggs with chalk-like deposits on top. Notice also the difference in size.

4 TABLE 2 : Results of HI titer to EDS 76 virus (isolate Farm HI titer 1:32 1:64 1:128 1:256 1:512 Total Muradia Tarmiah Kirkuk Babylon Anbar Sulaminah Suwairah 2nd Al-Dour Al-Tharthar Neinevah Quadisiah DISCUSSION According to the serological data reported in this study, an important conclusion can be drawn : EDS 76 virus appears to be present in Iraqi laying and breeding flocks. The origin of this infection is still obscure and needs more investigation. Attempts to isolate the virus from some infected flocks were unsuccessful ; however, these attempts are to be continued. No other bird species such as ducks, geese and wild birds, have been tested and this may be carried out in the near future. SUMMARY A serological survey of laying and breeding flocks for the presence of antibodies to Egg Drop Syndrome 1976 virus (EDS 76 virus) has been carried out for the first time in Iraq. In most of these flocks, the egg production was lower than expected, moreover, soft-shelled, shell-less eggs and eggs with chalk-like deposits were collected from some infected flocks. A total of 2,444 sera collected from 13 laying and breeding flocks were tested by hemagglutination-inhibition test using the microtiter procedure. 29.3% from these sera were shown to contain antibodies against EDS 76 virus.

5 REFERENCES 1. BADSTUE P.B. and SCHMIDT B. Egg Drop Syndrome 76 in Danish Poultry. Nordisk Veterinaermedicine, 1978, 30, BAXENDALE W. Egg Drop Syndrome 76. Vet. Rec, 1978, 102, CALNEK B.W. Hemagglutination-inhibition antibodies against adenovirus (virus 127) in white Pekin ducks in the United States. Avian Dis., 1978, 21, DARBYSHIRE J.H. and PETERS R.W. Studies on EDS 76 virus infection in laying chickens. Avian Path., 1980, 9, FERHAVARI T., GLAVITS R. and RATZ F. Egg shell formation disorders (Egg Drop Syndrome) in a large-scale laying flock. Magyar Allatorvosok Lapja, 1979, 34, MCFERRAN J.B., ROWLEY H.M., MCNULTY M.S. and MONTGOMERY L.J. Serological studies on flocks showing depressed egg production. Avian Path., 1977, 6, MEULEMANS G., DEKEGEL D., PEETÈRS J., VAN MEIRHAEGHE E. and HALEN P. Isolation of an adeno-like virus from laying chickens affected by Egg Drop Syndrome. Vlaams Diergen. Tijdschrift, 1979, 48, PICAULT J.P. Chutes de ponte associées à la production d'œufs sans coquille ou à coquille fragile. L'Aviculteur, 1978, 279, RAMPIN T., ENICE F. and MANDELLI G. Antibodies against the «B/C» 14 virus antigen in laying and breeding flocks in Italy. Clinica Veterinaria, 1978, 101, TODD D. and MCNULTY M.S. Biochemical studies on a virus associated with Egg Drop Syndrome. J. gen. Virol., 1976, 40, VAN ECK J.H.H., DAVELAAR F.G., VAN DEN HEUVEL-PLESMAN T.A.M., Nel VAN KOL, KOUWENHOVEN B. and GULDIE F.H.M. Dropped egg production, soft-shelled and shell-less eggs associated with appearance of precipitins to adenovirus in flocks of laying hens. Avian Path., 1976, 5,

Small-scale Family Poultry Production

doi:10.1017/s0043933910000115 Small-scale Family Poultry Production Egg-Drop Syndrome 76 in different bird species in Nigeria a review of the epidemiology, economic losses, challenges and prospect for