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Birnavirus-associated proventriculitis in French broiler chickens

Article · October 2011

DOI: 10.1136/vr.d6412 · Source: PubMed

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Letters

Letters

POULTRY VIROLOGY

Birnavirus-associated
proventriculitis in
French broiler chickens
Transmissible viral proventriculitis
(TVP) has been described sporadically in
broiler chickens in the USA for decades.
Clinically, this disease is characterised by
impaired growth (‘runting’), poor feed
conversion and limited mortality. Gross

394 | Veterinary Record | October 8, 2011

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FIG 1: Proventriculitis caused by chicken
proventricular necrosis virus, characterised
by an enlarged and whitish proventriculus
lesions are limited to enlargement and pallor
of the proventriculus (Dormitorio and others
2007).
In Europe, proventriculitis in broilers
was reported in 1978 in the Netherlands,
but its aetiology was not determined
(Kouwenhoven and others 1978). In
Spain, TVP was identified and associated
with infectious bursal disease virus, but
the aetiology could not be determined
definitively (Grau-Roma and others 2010).
TVP has never been reported in France.
Several viruses, including birnavirus-
like ones, have been suggested as possible
agents of TVP (Goodwin and others
1996). Very recently, a novel birnavirus,
referred to as chicken proventricular
necrosis virus (CPNV), was identified
as the likely aetiological agent (Guy and
others 2011a). This virus shares the genetic
features of birnaviruses (a bi-segmented
genome of double-stranded RNA), but is
deeply divergent from other birnaviruses
and mainly from infectious bursal disease
virus (IBDV), based on phylogenetic
analyses (Guy and others 2011a). To date,
little is known about the prevalence or
pathobiology of this virus.
FIG 2: Mononuclear infiltration of glands
and epithelial metaplasia. Haematoxylin
and eosin. x 40
A case of proventriculitis was diagnosed
in June 2011 on a multiage broiler chicken
farm in western France. Clinical signs,
mostly consisting of runting, appeared in
March 2011 and were observed in every
flock until TVP was suspected by vets
from Reseau Cristal and Resalab laboratory.
Mortality increased moderately (2 to 5 per
cent), especially during the first two weeks
of age.
The postmortem findings on the birds
were limited to a severely enlarged, whitish
proventriculus (Fig 1).
Histopathological lesions were observed
only in the proventriculus, consisting
of a marked inflammation targeting
submucosal glands, associated with oedema,
lymphoplasmocytic infiltration and ductal
metaplasia of the glandular epithelium (Fig
2).
Frozen proventriculus from seven
necropsied birds was shipped to the
ENVT-INRA virology unit and processed
by RT-PCR for detection of CPNV, using
a previously described procedure (Guy and
others 2011b).
All the samples tested strongly positive
for CPNV. To confirm the molecular
Letters
detection of CPNV, smears of proventriculus
from four birds were spotted onto FTA Cards
(Whatman) and shipped to the Clinical
Virology Laboratory, North Carolina State
University, USA. The RT-PCR assays
were positive for three of four samples,
confirming the molecular detection of
CPNV. The sequence of one PCR product
showed 99 per cent nucleotide identity with
the reference CPNV sequence (GenBank
accession number HM038436).
As far as we are aware, this is
the first documented case of CPNV-
associated proventriculitis outside the
USA. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that this
condition has never occurred before, in
France or other European countries, and
a thorough analysis of archival reports
and archived tissues will likely show that
proventriculitis caused by CPNV may be
anything but exceptional in the field. Poultry
veterinarians and laboratory staff should
therefore play a key role in determining the
prevalence and the pathological significance
of CPNV in broiler chickens, on a global
scale.
Jocelyn Marguerie, Olivier Leon, Labo79
Reseau Cristal, 79150 Argenton-Les-Vallées,
France
Olivier Albaric, Oniris, Atlanpôle, La
Chantrerie, 44307 Nantes, France
James S. Guy, College of Veterinary
Medicine, NCSU, Raleigh, USA
Jean-Luc Guerin, UMR INRA-ENVT
1225, Université de Toulouse, INP, Ecole
Nationale Veterinaire, 23, chemin des
Capelles, 31076 Toulouse, Cedex 3, France
e-mail: jl.guerin@envt.fr
References
DORMITORIO, T. V., GIAMBRONE, J. J. & HOERR,
F. J. (2007) Transmissible proventriculitis in broilers.
Avian Pathology 36, 87-91
GOODWIN, M. A., HAFNER, S., BOUNOUS,
D. I., LATIMER, K. S., PLAYER, E. C., NIAGRO,
October 8, 2011 | Veterinary Record | 395
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Letters

F. D., CAMPAGNOLI, R. P. & BROWN, J. (1996)

Viral proventriculitis in chickens. Avian Pathology 25,
369-379
GRAU-ROMA, L., MARCO, A., MARTÍNEZ,
J., CHAVES, A., DOLZ, R. & MAJÓ, N. (2010)
Infectious bursal disease-like virus in cases of
transmissible viral proventriculitis. Veterinary Record 167,
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GUY, J. S., WEST, M. A. & FULLER, F. J. (2011a)
Physical and genomic characteristics identify chicken
proventricular necrosis virus (R11/3 virus) as a novel
birnavirus. Avian Diseases 55, 2-7
GUY, J. S., WEST, M. A., FULLER, F. J., MARUSAK,
R. A., SHIVAPRASAD, H. L., DAVIS, J. L. &
FLETCHER, O. J. (2011b) Detection of chicken
proventricular necrosis virus (R11/3 virus) in
experimental and naturally occurring cases of
transmissible viral proventriculitis with the use of a
reverse transcriptase-PCR procedure. Avian Diseases
55, 70-75
KOUWENHOVEN, B., DAVELAAR, F. G. & VAN
WALSUM, J. (1978) Infectious proventriculitis causing
runting in broilers. Avian Pathology 7, 183-187

doi: 10.1136/vr.d6412

396 | Veterinary Record | October 8, 2011

 Downloaded from veterinaryrecord.bmj.com on March 6, 2013 - Published by group.bmj.com

Birnavirus-associated proventriculitis in
French broiler chickens
Jocelyn Marguerie, Olivier Leon, Olivier Albaric, et al.

Veterinary Record 2011 169: 394-396

doi: 10.1136/vr.d6412

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