Etiological and pathological investigation of astrovirus infection in broilers in Sulaymaniyah province

Abstract

Astrovirus infection is an enteric viral disease, which leads to economic losses in the poultry industry worldwide. This study aimed to detect Chicken Astrovirus (CAstV) infection in broiler chicks in Sulaymaniyah province. Tissue samples were collected from 100 chicks from Sulaymaniyah broiler farms between July 2021 and February 2022 and were separated into 3 groups according to their age; 1-week-old chicks, group B; (n=33), was 2 weeks old chicks, and group C; (n=34) for 3 weeks old chicks. The tissue samples (intestine, liver, and kidney) were analyzed by PCR and suspected samples were passed for the histological techniques and preparation of H&E stain. Samples in groups B and C had characteristic gross and histologic lesions, specifically, the histopathologic sections revealed atrophied hepatocytes, the presence of urate crystals in the kidneys and ureters, also villous atrophy with cryptitis and crypt abscess in the duodenum. RT-PCR for detection and amplification of the 362 bps-ORF-1b (partial) region of the virus genome revealed, that 5 of the 100 samples were positive for CAstV; group B (2 samples) and group C (3 samples), while group A was negative for CAstV. Isolated CAstV strain IQ/CAstv/suly/2022 with (ON093075) was closely related to four Iranian ones.

Keywords

• stunting
• urate crystal
• villous atrophy