الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Pox disease in turkeys iscaused by a ds DNA virus of the family Poxviridae, Subfamily Chordopoxvirinae and Genus Avipoxvirus . . Turkey pox disease causing a major economic losses due to mortalities, costs of vaccination, DROP in egg production and meat condemnation. A little information was known in relation to the epidemiology of turkey poxvirus in Egypt. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and characterization of turkey pox virus circulate in Egypt . To achieve the aim of study, six turkey flocks, aged 48-65 days old located at the boundaries of Belbis villages, Sharkia, Egypt were selected. The infected flocks shown pox like lesions on the skin. The morbidity percentage ranged from 5-15% with no mortalities. A total of 30 crust samples were collected from the six infected flocks for histopathology and virus isolation in embryonated chicken eggs and identification of pox virus DNA with PCR. Twenty blood samples were collected for screening of specific pox antibodies in serum of infected turkeys. Histopathological examination of skin lesions in all necropsied turkeys revealed similar pathology, mainly characterized by the presence of epidermal hypertrophy and hyperplasia in cutaneous lesions Microscopical examination of crusts and scabs of naturally infected turkey showed marked vacuolation and ballooning with lymphocytic infilteration. PCR was carried out by applying the primer set targeting the p4b core gene of turkey pox virus. Uninfected CAMs were used as negative control and CAMs containing fowl pox vaccine strain were used as positive control. Sequence analysis of the turkey pox isolates revealed that all isolates were 100% identical to each other and 99.8– 100% identical to several published sequences of fowl pox viruses and turkey pox viruses from various countries in different continents of the world.All sequenced isolates are genetically and phylogenetically closely related. |