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Title: OCCURRENCE OF AVIAN LEUKOSIS VIRUS SUBGROUP J IN COMMERCIAL LAYER FLOCKS IN CHINA

Author
item XU, B - CHINA AGRIC UNIV BEIJING
item DONG, W - CHINA AGRIC UNIV BEIJING
item YU, C - CHINA AGRIC UNIV BEIJING
item HE, Z - CHINA AGRIC UNIV BEIJING
item LV, Y - CHINA AGRIC UNIV BEIJING
item SUN, Y - CHINA AGRIC UNIV BEIJING
item FENG, X - CHINA AGRIC UNIV BEIJING
item LI, N - CHINA AGRIC UNIV BEIJING
item Lee, Lucy

Submitted to: Avian Pathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/15/2003
Publication Date: 2/1/2004
Citation: Xu, B., Dong, W., Yu, C., He, Z., Lv, Y., Sun, Y., Feng, X., Li, N., Lee, L.F. 2004. Occurrence of avian leukosis virus subgroup J in commercial layer flocks in china. Avian Pathology. 33(1):13-17.

Interpretive Summary: Subgroup J avian leucosis virus (ALV-J) is an emerging economically important virus infection that can cause cancer-like disease and other production problems in meat-type chickens. The virus was first reported in 1991 in the United Kingdom and in 1993 in the United States in meat-type of chickens. This paper describes the identification of myeloid leucosis in egg layer chickens in China. Immunohistochemical studies with monoclonal antibody against envelope glycoprotein gp85 of ALV-J revealed antigen in all organs examined. This is the first report of field cases of myeloid leucosis caused by ALV-J in commercial egg-type chickens. This new information is significant and useful to scientists in academia and industry who are studying the epidemiology and control of this important virus infection of chickens.

Technical Abstract: Mortality from myeloid leukosis was observed in commercial layers from 12 farms in northern China. Affected chickens were extremely thin and dehydrated, bleeding occurred in feather follicles and claws, combs were pale and anaemic, phalanges were swollen, and many yellowish-white tumours were seen on the visceral surface of the sternum. Focal tumour cells, with spherical eosinophilic granules in the cytoplasm, were found in the liver, spleen, kidney, ovary, oviduct, lung, bone marrow, proventriculus and gut by histopathological examination. Immunohistochemical studies with a monoclonal antibody to gp85 of avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) revealed antigen in all organs examined. Polymerase chain reaction tests using a pair of ALV-J-specific primers H5/H7 (Smith et al., 1998) produced a 545 basepair fragment. The sequence of the Polymerase chain reaction product was compared with that of the ALV-J HPRS-103 prototype strain. The identity of nucleotides and predicted amino acids was 97.4% and 96.1%, respectively. On this basis the disease in the egg-type chickens was diagnosed as an ALV-J infection. This is the first report of field cases of myeloid leukosis caused by ALV-J in commercial egg-type chickens.