Isolation and molecular characterisation of chicken parvovirus from Brazilian flocks with enteric disorders

Abstract

1. The presence of parvovirus in chickens with enteric disease was investigated in commercial flocks in Brazil.

2. The intestinal contents of chickens exhibiting clinical signs of diarrhoea, weight loss or mortality were examined, and chicken parvovirus (chPV) was identified using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. The samples were sequenced and inoculated into specific-pathogen-free (SPF) embryonated eggs to isolate the virus.

3. Necropsies showed that the embryos were dwarfish, haemorrhagic and oedematous. The presence of chPV was confirmed by PCR and DNA sequencing.

4. The molecular characterisation of chPV strains circulating in the Brazilian flocks showed that they were genetically related to sequences from North America, Europe and Asia. Phylogenetic analyses clustered the Brazilian chPV sequences with those from Europe (Croatia, Hungary) and Asia (South Korea).

5. This study is the first report of the molecular characterisation of chPV circulating in the commercial flocks in Brazil and indicates high genetic similarity with chPV sequences from around the world.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank FAPESP (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) for financial support [grant number #2006/59332-9] and CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico). A. J. Piantino Ferreira is a recipient of CNPq fellowships.