The Isolation of a Nonbacterial Agent from Quail with a Respiratory Disease

Abstract

A NONBACTERIAL agent was isolated from bobwhite quail submitted was August 1, 1956, to the Poultry Diagnostic Laboratory, College Station, Texas. The history indicated the condition to be an acute, contagious respiratory disease causing high mortality. The dwarfing produced in chicken embryos by the agent and the similarity of the flock history and symptoms to those found in cases of infectious bronchitis in chickens suggested the desirability of further study and identification of the agent. Olson (1950) isolated a virus from bobwhite quail affected by a highly fatal respiratory disease. He reported that losses in some pens were 70 to 80 percent and that respiratory symptoms ranged from slight rales to coughing, sneezing and rattled breathing. Nasal discharge was not noted in the natural infection. Nervous symptoms were seen in a few of the birds. Symptoms were first seen at three weeks of age. The course of the disease was . . .