Avipoxvirus infection in quails

Abstract

The present study describes clinical, virological, histopathological, immunohistochemical and electron microscopic findings of pox infection encountered in a quail flock. Lesions consisted of single or multiple nodules with a crust in variable size of gray to yellow or dark brown discoloration on the comb, eyelids, and the other poorly feathered areas of the body. Histopathological changes consisted of hyperplastic epithelium overlying, with ballooning degeneration of keratinocytes, many of which had eosinophilic intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies (Bollinger bodies), and heterophilic infiltrations admixed with mononuclear cells extending into dermis. Avipoxvirus infection was confirmed by positive immunostaining in the cytoplasm of affected cells for poxvirus antigen, excluded no immunostaining of inclusion bodies, using streptavidin-biotin peroxidase complex method and by demonstration of brick-shaped virus particles with a central core using direct electron microscopy. Typical thickness of chorio-allantoic membranes (CAMs) infected with virus, compared with controls, was observed, and the harvested virus on CAMs was detected as positive against known fowlpox virus using gel diffusion test.