1. White Chick Syndrome Associated with Chicken Astrovirus in Ontario, Canada
- Author
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Marina L. Brash, Rachel Ouckama, Kathleen E. Long, Davor Ojkic, and Alexandru Weisz
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Veterinary medicine ,animal structures ,040301 veterinary sciences ,Biology ,0403 veterinary science ,03 medical and health sciences ,Food Animals ,Astroviridae Infections ,Animals ,Phylogeny ,Poultry Diseases ,Ontario ,General Immunology and Microbiology ,Broiler ,Embryo ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,Avastrovirus ,Hatchery ,White (mutation) ,Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction ,030104 developmental biology ,Liver ,Capsid Proteins ,Female ,Animal Science and Zoology ,Flock ,Chickens ,Chicken astrovirus ,Ontario canada - Abstract
Sixty-four cases of white chick syndrome (WCS) in broiler breeders producing affected progeny were reported from seven hatcheries in Ontario, Canada, between 2009 and 2016, with 43 of those originating from two hatcheries owned by a single company. WCS cases were identified by the presence of typical chicks in the hatchery that were generally weak with pale to white down, enlarged abdomens, and occasionally brown wiry fluff on the dorsum of the neck. Affected embryos and chicks had characteristic gross and histologic liver lesions, and livers were positive for chicken astrovirus (CAstV) RNA by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR. Affected broiler breeder flocks experienced egg production drops of 0% to 21% and hatchability drops of 0% to 68.4%. The amino acid sequence of the region encoding the capsid gene of WCS viruses demonstrated all Ontario CAstV to be in Group B, Subgroup Bii.
- Published
- 2018