Text Book

(1) Poultry disease (a guide for farmers &

poultry professionals) by J.L. Vegad
(2) A Text book of Veterinary Special
Pathology (Infectious disease of
livestock & poultry) by J.L. Vegad &
A.K.Katiyar
(3) Poultry Disease under modern
management by G.S. Coutts
(4) A Colour atlas of poultry disease (an aid for
farmer & poultry professionals) by J.L.
Vegad
Text Book
(5) Veterinary Pathology by Ganti A.
Sastry & P.
Ramarao
(6) Poultry disease by Jorden Pattison
(7) Diseases of Poultry by Y. M. Saif
(8) Diseases of Poultry by David E
Swayne
 Disease caused by
Coronaviridae

• Single-stranded, enveloped, positive-sense RNA. Corona

means crown
• Two genera: Coronavirus, Torovirus
• Infectious Bronchitis (IB) also called avian infectious
bronchitis
• Turkey bluecomb disease: also k/a "corona viral
enteritis of turkeys", mud fever, transmissible enteritis,
affects turkeys of all ages, no evidence of transmitted by
eggs
Infectious Bronchitis
(IB)
Avian Infectious
Bronchitis
 Introduction
• IB is a sudden, rapid, highly contagious respiratory
disease of chickens chara. by abnormal respiratory
sounds, coughing and sneezing in young chicks.
• The disease was first described in 1931 in a flock
of young chickens in the USA.
• Besides causing disease of the respiratory tract, the
virus may also affects kidneys, reproductive tract
and muscles
• In laying birds, it cause great economic loss through
reduced egg production, watery albumen, and poor
eggshell quality.
• Economic imp. – poor weight gain & feed efficiency
 Etiology
• Coronavirus , there are 20 or more serotypes
(antigenically different) of the virus recognized by
VN & HI test.
• Virus have a natural tendency to undergo genetic
mutation, this can lead to new field strains
against which present vaccines may not give
protection.
• The best known serotypes include :
Respiratory & Kidney form Myopathic
form
Reproductive form (Nephritic form)
Massachusetts Holte & Grey 793
B
Connecticut Australian T
Holland
Arkansas-99
JMK,
Florida
• Among this Massachusetts is the most common
and also produces the most severe type of disease.
• It produces cross-immunity with the Connecticut
strain, both will have natural tendency for the
respiratory tract.
• Survive weeks to months, outside the birds.
• Rapidly killed by common disinfectants
• All age are susceptible, but the disease is most
severe in baby chicks, causing some mortality.
• As age increased, chickens become more resistant
to the nephropathogenic effects (kidney form
seen mainly under 10 weeks), oviduct lesions,
and mortality due to infection.
 Spread of the disease
• Airborne transmission most common
• Infected faeces, Spread by people and virus
contaminated substances
• Birds may shed virus for 4 weeks after
recovery
• Carriers, birds which carry infection
without showing symptoms also spread the
infection.
• VIRUS HAS NOT SHOWN TO BE EGG-
TRANSMITTED / NO VERTICAL
TRANSMISSION
• The incubation period of IB is 18-36 hrs,
depending upon dose and route of infection.
 Pathogenesis
• IB virus can replicate in (cytoplasm) tissues
of the respiratory tract, intestinal tract,
kidneys, and the oviduct.

• After replicating in respiratory tract it

producing characteristic lesion in trachea.

• In reproductive tract it mainly affect the

oviduct leads to it physiological
abnormality and finally reduced egg
production .
• The immune status of the bird can
influence protection.

• If maternal immunity and active

immunization may prevent or reduce
disease and limit virus excretion.

• Infection with other disease producing

microorganisms occurring during the
course of IB produce more severe and
prolonged respiratory disease.
 Sign
Respiratory form :
• Most common form in all ages of birds.
• Symptoms includes,
Abnormal respiratory sounds,
Gasping, Sneezing,
Watery nasal discharge,
Eye discharge (some time only),
Facial swelling.
• Mortality is slight, but may reach up to 30%
in brooding chicks.
 Infectious bronchitis
Young chicken in young (3 weeks old)
showing commercial egg layer
respiratory signs chicks.
 Reproductive form
Two syndromes reflect disease of reproductive tract
(1) The most common form damages the fully functional
oviduct during laying and results in reduced egg production
and quality.
• Drop in egg production may sometimes be more than 50%
• Return to full laying may take 4-6 weeks, Expected
production is never reach again.
• Respiratory symptoms may or may not occur with the drop
in egg production
• Egg quality turns to smaller egg than normal, misshapen,
lacking symmetry, or show corrugation in outline.
• Shell depigmented, thinner than normal, or absent entirely.
• Internally albumin loses its viscosity (watery whites),
chalazae are usually broken so than the yolk floats free.
(2) The less common form of the
reproductive form is associated with
abnormal development of the oviduct
following infection of young chicks.
• The oviduct may fail to develop completely
or partially.
• At maturity ova are not taken up by
malformed oviduct, and are shed into the
body cavity.
• Such birds go through the process of egg
laying but fail to lay and are known as
“blind layers”
Shell less
egg
Infectious
Bronchitis
 Kidney form (Nephritic
form)
• This form usually affects young growing birds.
• Signs includes :
Depression,
Ruffled feathers,
Wet droppings,
Increased water intake,
• When urolithiasis is associated with IB in layers
flocks, there may be increased mortality but
otherwise flock appears healthy.
• In severe form mortality may reach up to 30%.
• During last few years another form of the disease has been
seen in which there are either very mild respiratory
symptoms or no symptoms at all
• There is drop in egg production of 5-10% and the reduction
in the pigment of shell, some become completely white.
• In some cases, production returns to normal in 2-3 weeks.

• Myopathic form
• This is a new variant IB strain seen in broiler breeder and
affecting muscles particularly deep pectoral muscles.
• It also cause production drop and haemorrhage in deep
pectoral muscle
Name of the strain is 793B
 Post-mortem findings
• In mild respiratory form:
Excess mucus in respiratory tract,
Lungs may be congested,
Airsac walls cloudy and thickened & may
contain a yellow cheese-like mass (caseous
exudates).
• In more sever form :
Caseous plug in lower trachea,
In older chicks severe inflammation with
reddening of the tracheal rings may
present.
• In kidney form
Swollen & pale kidneys with tubules and
ureters distended with urates
No gross lesion in intestine
In some birds seen visceral gout, in which
white granular material (urates) may coat
the internal organs.
• Microscopically, mucosa of trachea is oedematous
• Trachea and bronchi show loss of cilia, rounding
and sloughing of epithelial cells, and slight
infiltration of heterophils and lymphocytes
• kidney lesions are mainly those of an interstitial
nephritis, granular degeneration, vacuolation.
• In urolithiasis, the ureters are distended with
urates and often contain large calculi composed
mainly of urates
• Disease of the functional oviduct results in
decreased height and loss of cilia from epithelial
cells, dilation of tubular glands
 VISCERAL GOUT
ETIOLIOGY
1. Nutritional- High protein diet, Vit. A
deficiency
- Ca:P imbalance
2. Toxicity- Mycotoxin, Urea,Fluoride, Salt
3. Infectiou-Nephrogenic IB strains
4. Managemental-Dehydration
5. Genetical-Strain susceptibility
 Urates present on
the surface of liver ,
abdominal fat and
sternum

White Uratic
deposits on the
surfaces of heart ,
liver, and visceral
peritoneum
Gross appearance of a hock
joint showing white chalky
Calcium urates deposits
 Enlarged
ureters

Bilateral
Atrophy of
Kidney
Nephrosis in
broiler
Mucoid exudate in the
trachea
Infectious bronchitis, airsacculitis
(chicken)
Swollen, pale
kidneys
IB nephritis broiler chicken (4 weeks
old).
Degenerated ovary showing atrophic
and haemorrhagic follicules from a
hen in lay
Flaccid ovarian follicles in a broiler
parent chicken undergoing
challenge with Infectious
Bronchitis virus.
 Diagnosis
Based on :
• History,
• Clinical signs,
• Postmortem examination,
• Histopathological examination- trachea is
edematous, with loss of cilia, rounding and
sloughing of epithelial cells, and minor
infiltration of heterophills and lymphocytes
with in 18 hrs of infection.
Virus Isolation - Antigen detection
• Virus isolation is usually done in 9-10 day of age embryonated
specific pathogen free (SPF) eggs.. Typical lesions in embryos
occurring at about 5-7 days post inoculation are curling and
dwarfing of the embryos, clubbing of down, red or
haemorrhagic embryos, and possibly white urate deposits in
kidneys

Comparison of a normal 18-day old chicken embryo

and
two infected embryos of the same age, showing
dwarfing
• Identification of IB virus by detection of IB
RNA by PCR method
• Serological tests like ELISA, IFT, IDT can
also be used
• VN and HI tests for IBV antibodies generally
are considered to be type-specific, although
there are cross-reaction between serotypes,
especially in HI test.
 Differential diagnosis
• IB may resembles other acute respiratory disease such as
ND, ILT, & Infection Coryza.
• ND is generally more severe than IB, nervous signs may be
observed with virulent strains of ND, and in laying flocks,
drop in egg production may be greater than with IB.
• ILT tends to spread more slowly in a flock, but respiratory
signs may be more severe than IB.
• Infectious coryza can be differentiated on the basis of
facial swelling that occurs only rarely in IB.
• Production decreases and shell quality problems in flocks
infected with the egg drop syndrome (EDS) adenovirus are
similar to those seen with IB, except that internal egg
quality is not affected in the case of EDS.
 Treatment
• Being a viral disease no effective treatment.
• Depending upon the form of IB supportive
treatment is given.
Nephritic form :
• Diuretics like Lasix, sodium citrate,
potassium chloride to clear uric acid
production and reduce urolithiasis.
• To dissolve the uroliths in ureter urine
acidifiers like Ammonium chloride @10kg/
tone & ammonium sulfate is given in feed
@5kg/tone.
 Prevention &Control
• Because of mutating virus it is difficult to
have appropriate vaccine strain.
• In developed countries region wise
preveling IB strain are recognized and
appropriate vaccine strains are suggested,
which is not practiced in India.
• The Massachusetts serotypes of virus is the
one most commonly included in
commercial vaccines.
• In India only Massachusetts strain are
available, which can take care of
Respiratory & Reproductive form of disease.
• Repeated vaccination with repeated
vaccine strain can cover the larger area.
• Both live and killed vaccine are available,
live vaccine may be administered to day-
old chicks.

Schedule :
Commercial broiler :
Day old by beak dipping
Booster on 14 th day by D/W, occulonasal,
spray nasal.
Commercial layer :
• Day old beak dipping, which is done with half dose .
• 4th week occulonasal or D/W
• Boostering in D/W at 14 th weeks of age,
• Usually IB vaccine is done before laying starts and
during lay it is avoided
Parent stock :
IB inactivated vaccine for parent stock in growing
period as per commercial layers with IB killed
vaccine.
Broilers should be vaccinated only where the disease is
a real problem, otherwise IB vaccination may cause
greater flock morbidity (sickness) than the disease
itself.
• Provision of additional heat to eliminate
cold stress,
• Elimination of overcrowding and attempts
to maintain feed consumption to prevent
weight loss are flock management factors
that may help reduces losses from IB.