Air sampling for detection of infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) in commercial poultry flocks.

ObjectiveInfectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) is an acute and highly contagious viral respiratory disease of poultry, caused by gallid herpesvirus 1 (ILTV), which causes significant economic losses. Due to recent outbreaks of ILT in Australia, it has been proposed that ILT could be transmitted between poultry sheds by airborne transmission; however, there has never been direct detection of ILTV from air samples. We aimed to optimize a sampling system for the detection of airborne ILTV in poultry sheds.ResultsPoultry farms with a known outbreaks of ILT were used for detection of airborne ILTV. Infected chickens were verified by detection of ILTV nucleic acid in feather shafts with all farms being positive. Using a liquid cyclonic impinging device, it was found that recovery and detection of airborne ILTV was possible in alkaline PEG buffer. Additional sampling was performed at different heights to determine the presence of ILTV in the air. In farm 3, all three air samples at both heights were positive for ILTV while at farm 2 only one sample at 45cm was positive. We envisaged in the future air sampling will be able to detect and track potential transmission of ILTV both inside and outside of the poultry shed.

Air sampling for detection of infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) in commercial poultry flocks

Objective Infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) is an acute and highly contagious viral respiratory disease of poultry, caused by gallid herpesvirus 1 (ILTV), which causes significant economic losses. Due to recent outbreaks of ILT in Australia, it has been proposed that ILT could be transmitted between poultry sheds by airborne transmission; however, there has never been direct detection of ILTV from air samples. We aimed to optimize a sampling system for the detection of airborne ILTV in poultry sheds. Results Poultry farms with a known outbreaks of ILT were used for detection of airborne ILTV. Infected chickens were verified by detection of ILTV nucleic acid in feather shafts with all farms being positive. Using a liquid cyclonic impinging device, it was found that recovery and detection of airborne ILTV was possible in alkaline PEG buffer. Additional sampling was performed at different heights to determine the presence of ILTV in the air. In farm 3, all three air samples at both heights were positive for ILTV while at farm 2 only one sample at 45 cm was positive. We envisaged in the future air sampling will be able to detect and track potential transmission of ILTV both inside and outside of the poultry shed.

Air sampling for detection of infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) in commercial poultry flocks.

Objective Infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) is an acute and highly contagious viral respiratory disease of poultry, caused by gallid herpesvirus 1 (ILTV), which causes significant economic losses. Due to recent outbreaks of ILT in Australia, it has been proposed that ILT could be transmitted between poultry sheds by airborne transmission; however, there has never been direct detection of gallid herpesvirus 1 from air samples. We aimed to optimize a sampling system for the detection of airborne gallid herpesvirus 1 in poultry sheds.Results Poultry farms with a known clinical outbreaks of ILT were used as a test case for detection of airborne ILTV. Infected chickens were verified by detection of ILTV nucleic acid in feather shafts with all farms being positive. Using a liquid cyclonic impinging device, it was found that recovery and detection of airborne ILTV was possible in alkaline PEG buffer. Additional sampling was performed at different heights to determine the presence of ILTV in the air. In farm 3, all three air samples at both heights were positive for ILVT while at farm 2 only one sample at 45cm was positive. We envisaged in the future air sampling will be able to detect and track potential transmission of gallid herpesvirus 1 both inside and outside of the poultry shed.

Air sampling for detection of infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) in commercial poultry flocks.

Objective Infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) is an acute and highly contagious viral respiratory disease of poultry, caused by gallid herpesvirus 1 (ILTV), which causes significant economic losses. Due to recent outbreaks of ILT in Australia, it has been proposed that ILT could be transmitted between poultry sheds by the wind; however, there has never been direct detection of gallid herpesvirus 1 from air samples. We aimed to optimize a sampling system for recovery and detection of airborne gallid herpesvirus 1 in poultry sheds. Results Poultry farms with a known clinical outbreaks of ILT were used as a test case for detection of airborne gallid herpesvirus 1. Using a liquid cyclonic impinging device, it was found that recovery and detection of airborne gallid herpesvirus 1 was possible in alkaline PEG buffer. Additional sampling was performed at different heights to determine the presence of ILTV in the air. In farm 3, all three air samples at both heights were positive for ILVT while at farm 2 only one sample at 45cm was positive. We envisaged in the future air sampling will be able to detect and track potential transmission of gallid herpesvirus 1 both inside and outside of the poultry shed.

Multilocus analysis of Gallid herpesvirus 1 in layer chickens in Iraq

Background and Aim: Infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) causes a highly pathogenic respiratory disease that affects poultry. It is also known as Gallid herpesvirus 1. ILT prophylaxis measures often include using live attenuated vaccines. The live attenuated vaccine can, however, lead to the formation of new strains of ILTV as a result of vaccine reversion and recombination with field strains. Therefore, this study was performed to explore the multilocus variation of ILTV strains of field and vaccine origin. Samples were tested from two distinctive geographical areas in Iraq as little is known about the ILTV genetic diversity within these areas. Materials and Methods: The polymerase chain reaction method was utilized to generate sequencing templates of six highly polymorphic genes, including UL54, UL52, gB, ICP18.5, ICP4, and gJ in the layer chicken sample (n=15). The Western blotting technique was also employed to detect and estimate the native molecular weight of gE. Results: The results revealed an important degree of genetic relatedness between the field and vaccine strains across all genes. In addition, gE was found to be expressed natively at 49 kDa. Conclusion: The findings of this study may be used to improve the production process of the vaccine for more effective ILT prophylaxis and could further the understanding of epidemiologists and immunologists to better control ILT in the future.