Author
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Day, James |
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Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 3/5/2011 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Poultry enteric disease is an ongoing economic problem for the poultry industry in the United States and abroad. The causes of the enteric disease syndromes are largely unknown, although many intestinal viruses have been implicated. Despite decades of research targeting a number of these viruses, a definitive cause of the enteric syndromes has not been found, and many times the suspect viruses are also found in otherwise healthy flocks, suggesting an unknown virus may be involved. There is a pressing need to identify the novel viruses present in the poultry gut—an important first step in determining their roles in the enteric disease syndromes and production losses. Recent efforts to identify novel viruses associated with enteric disease have resulted in the description of novel chicken and turkey parvoviruses and in the initial characterization of numerous novel viral sequences in the turkey gut. Further, the continuing analysis of poultry enteric viruses such as the turkey and chicken astroviruses has revealed a more complicated picture of the viruses circulating in poultry flocks. This analysis provides a synthesis of some of the recent research efforts in the field. Technical Abstract: Poultry enteric disease is an ongoing economic problem for the poultry industry in the United States and abroad. The etiologies of the recognized enteric disease syndromes—Poult Enteritis Complex (PEC) and Poult Enteritis Mortality Syndrome (PEMS) in young turkeys, and Runting-Stunting Syndrome (RSS) in broiler chickens—are largely unknown, although many intestinal viruses have been implicated. Despite decades of research targeting a number of these viruses, a definitive cause of the enteric syndromes has not been found, and many times the suspect viruses are also found in otherwise healthy flocks, suggesting an unknown viral agent may be involved. There is a pressing need to identify the novel viruses present in the poultry gut—an important first step in determining their roles in the enteric disease syndromes and production losses. Recent efforts to identify novel viruses associated with RSS and PEC have resulted in the description of novel chicken and turkey parvoviruses and in the initial characterization of numerous viral sequences detected in a metagenomic analysis of the turkey gut. Further, the continuing molecular analysis of poultry enteric viruses such as the turkey and chicken astroviruses has revealed a more complicated picture of the viruses circulating in poultry flocks. This analysis provides a synthesis of some of the recent research efforts in the field. |
