Pathogenicity of three turkey and three chicken reoviruses for poults and chicks with particular reference to arthritis/tenosynovitis

Abstract

Six reoviruses, three isolated from cases of tenosynovitis/arthritis in turkeys and three from chickens, were compared for their pathogenicity in one-day-old poults or chicks with particular respect to tenosynovitis. After footpad inoculation all six viruses caused gross lesions of erosive arthritis and microscopic lesions of tenosynovitis at 3 weeks post-infection in chicks, but none of the viruses produced any lesions in poults. Furthermore, all viruses could be isolated from hock joints of the chicks at 3 weeks but not from joints of turkeys. However, all isolates induced the production of homologous neutralising antibodies of similar range of titres in both species. Thus turkeys appeared to be much more resistant than chickens to the induction of arthritis/tenosynovitis by reoviruses from either species. Preliminary results with one virus from each species in a synovial membrane organ culture system suggest that the joint tissues of turkeys may be innately more resistant to reoviruses than those of chickens.