Genotypic Characterization of Marek’s Disease Virus from Clinically Suspected Layer in Basrah, South of Iraq

Abstract

A reemerging viral disease known as Marek's disease affects chickens and has a devastating financial impact on the global poultry sector. The emergence of pathogenic strains must be continuously monitored using molecular approaches of Marek’s disease and to adevise to use appropriate vaccination program with implement bio-security. This study was continued from May 2021 to August2021. Clinical symptoms and postmortem lesions were used to identify MD, and PCR testing for the Meq gene provided further confirmation. The meq gene's phylogenetic analysis was also performed, and such test revealed clustering of the our Iraqi field strains with Euroasian cluster, where the genetic characteristics of the present study MD strains were similar to those of Chinese and European strains