Pathology of Adenoviral Infection in Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) with Respiratory Disease and Colisepticemia

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Abstract
Nuclear inclusion bodies typical of the adenovirus group were widespread in the spleen and other tissues of 8-week-old turkeys with severe respiratory disease and concomitant evidence of colisepticemia. Adenoviral virions were seen in affected nuclei of splenic tissue and in negatively stained preparations of ground spleen. In splenic tissue, inclusions were most prominent in reticular cells and macrophages in the periarterial lymphoid sheaths, the red pulp and the marginal zones of the periarteriolar reticular sheaths. Marked reticuloendothelial hyperplasia, lymphoid atrophy and granulocytic splenitis characterized the splenic changes. There were inclusions in the respiratory tract, intestinal tract, liver, kidney and pancreas. Inoculation of young turkeys, especially when immunosuppressed, resulted in evidence of infection and respiratory disease. The viruses produced cytopathic changes in primary turkey kidney cell cultures but did not affect embryonating chicken eggs. Concentrated viral suspensions induced precipitin lines in agar gel immunodiffusion tests with known antisera against known turkey adenoviruses but did not show an antigenic relationship to chicken adenoviruses.