Circulation and Molecular Characterization of Hemorrhagic Enteritis Virus in Commercial Turkey and Meat Chicken Flocks in Australia

Priscilla F. Gerber; Stephen Spatz; Peter Gray; Sheridan Alfirevich; Stephen W. Walkden-Brown

doi:10.1637/21-00095

Circulation and Molecular Characterization of Hemorrhagic Enteritis Virus in Commercial Turkey and Meat Chicken Flocks in Australia

Priscilla F. Gerber^*
, Stephen Spatz
, Peter Gray^*
, Sheridan Alfirevich
, Stephen W. Walkden-Brown

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Currently, there is no available vaccine against hemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV) in Australia. Although it is assumed that subclinical HEV infections occur and may be associated with an increase in colibacillosis in Australian commercial turkey flocks, the prevalence of infection with this virus in the country is largely unknown. The aims of this study were to determine the extent of HEV infection in commercial flocks in Australia and to investigate the diversity of Australian HEV strains. Serum and spleen samples were collected from breeder and grower turkeys and serum was collected from breeder and grower chickens by the two major poultry integrator companies in Australia. Of the turkey samples, 727/849 (86%) sera were positive for anti-HEV antibodies by ELISA. HEV DNA was detected in 215/278 (77%) spleen samples positive by PCR. Of the meat chicken sera, 115/144 (80%) samples were seropositive. Sequencing the whole genome of three HEV field isolates showed that the Australian strains are highly similar and cluster separately from strains from other geographic regions although several point mutations were shared with HEV strains considered to be virulent. In conclusion, HEV infection is ubiquitous in Australian commercial poultry flocks. The impact of the many genomic point mutations detected in Australian HEV strains on virus pathogenicity is unclear.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	53-59
Journal	Avian Diseases
Volume	66
Issue number	1
Online published	10 Jan 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1637/21-00095
Publication status	Published - Mar 2022
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work was conducted within the Poultry CRC (project 1.1.9), established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres program. P. F. G. is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award Fellowship (DE200101832) funded by the Australian Government. We thank Ingham’s and Baiada for providing samples and John Reeves and Zoetis for providing the ProFLOK HEV ELISA used in this study. We thank Susan Burgess and Paul Reynolds for their excellent technical assistance.

Research Keywords

prevalence
turkey adenovirus 3
virulence
whole genome sequencing

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title = "Circulation and Molecular Characterization of Hemorrhagic Enteritis Virus in Commercial Turkey and Meat Chicken Flocks in Australia",

abstract = "Currently, there is no available vaccine against hemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV) in Australia. Although it is assumed that subclinical HEV infections occur and may be associated with an increase in colibacillosis in Australian commercial turkey flocks, the prevalence of infection with this virus in the country is largely unknown. The aims of this study were to determine the extent of HEV infection in commercial flocks in Australia and to investigate the diversity of Australian HEV strains. Serum and spleen samples were collected from breeder and grower turkeys and serum was collected from breeder and grower chickens by the two major poultry integrator companies in Australia. Of the turkey samples, 727/849 (86\%) sera were positive for anti-HEV antibodies by ELISA. HEV DNA was detected in 215/278 (77\%) spleen samples positive by PCR. Of the meat chicken sera, 115/144 (80\%) samples were seropositive. Sequencing the whole genome of three HEV field isolates showed that the Australian strains are highly similar and cluster separately from strains from other geographic regions although several point mutations were shared with HEV strains considered to be virulent. In conclusion, HEV infection is ubiquitous in Australian commercial poultry flocks. The impact of the many genomic point mutations detected in Australian HEV strains on virus pathogenicity is unclear.",

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AU - Gerber, Priscilla F.

AU - Spatz, Stephen

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AU - Alfirevich, Sheridan

AU - Walkden-Brown, Stephen W.

PY - 2022/3

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N2 - Currently, there is no available vaccine against hemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV) in Australia. Although it is assumed that subclinical HEV infections occur and may be associated with an increase in colibacillosis in Australian commercial turkey flocks, the prevalence of infection with this virus in the country is largely unknown. The aims of this study were to determine the extent of HEV infection in commercial flocks in Australia and to investigate the diversity of Australian HEV strains. Serum and spleen samples were collected from breeder and grower turkeys and serum was collected from breeder and grower chickens by the two major poultry integrator companies in Australia. Of the turkey samples, 727/849 (86%) sera were positive for anti-HEV antibodies by ELISA. HEV DNA was detected in 215/278 (77%) spleen samples positive by PCR. Of the meat chicken sera, 115/144 (80%) samples were seropositive. Sequencing the whole genome of three HEV field isolates showed that the Australian strains are highly similar and cluster separately from strains from other geographic regions although several point mutations were shared with HEV strains considered to be virulent. In conclusion, HEV infection is ubiquitous in Australian commercial poultry flocks. The impact of the many genomic point mutations detected in Australian HEV strains on virus pathogenicity is unclear.

AB - Currently, there is no available vaccine against hemorrhagic enteritis virus (HEV) in Australia. Although it is assumed that subclinical HEV infections occur and may be associated with an increase in colibacillosis in Australian commercial turkey flocks, the prevalence of infection with this virus in the country is largely unknown. The aims of this study were to determine the extent of HEV infection in commercial flocks in Australia and to investigate the diversity of Australian HEV strains. Serum and spleen samples were collected from breeder and grower turkeys and serum was collected from breeder and grower chickens by the two major poultry integrator companies in Australia. Of the turkey samples, 727/849 (86%) sera were positive for anti-HEV antibodies by ELISA. HEV DNA was detected in 215/278 (77%) spleen samples positive by PCR. Of the meat chicken sera, 115/144 (80%) samples were seropositive. Sequencing the whole genome of three HEV field isolates showed that the Australian strains are highly similar and cluster separately from strains from other geographic regions although several point mutations were shared with HEV strains considered to be virulent. In conclusion, HEV infection is ubiquitous in Australian commercial poultry flocks. The impact of the many genomic point mutations detected in Australian HEV strains on virus pathogenicity is unclear.

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Circulation and Molecular Characterization of Hemorrhagic Enteritis Virus in Commercial Turkey and Meat Chicken Flocks in Australia

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