Volume 4, May 2010

avianinsight A LO H M A N N A N I M A L H E A LT H N E W S B R I E F

Outbreaks of VA in
The Role of Vaccines in the Control
unprotected chickens of Avian Reovirus Infection
can have economically A vian reoviruses
have been asso-
ciated with various
pear to be of low or no pathogenicity. Clinical out-
breaks may occur when virulent reoviruses infect un-
protected parent stock and/or their progeny causing
devastating conse- disease conditions in severe economic losses due to at least: decreased
chickens and turkeys. hatchability and chick viability; decreased fertility
The most common due to tendon rupture in breeder males; leg problems
quences. Should a and well defined mani- in breeders and broilers (Figure 1); decreased growth,
festation of virulent poor feed conversion and low uniformity in broilers; re-
broiler breeder flock reovirus infection is duced overall livability; and increased condemnations.
viral arthritis (VA) or in-
fectious tenosynovitis Avian reoviruses (ARVs) encode various structural and
fall victim to an non-structural proteins. Some of these proteins play a
(3, 5). Outbreaks of VA
in unprotected chick- role in pathogenicity, resistance to interferon (a non-
By Guillermo Zavala, M.S., M.A.M, Ph.D.
outbreak of clinical Assoc. Professor, Department of ens can have econom- specific innate immune response), or virus replication
Population Health ically devastating con- and assembly. Viral proteins of pragmatic interest in-
College of Veterinary Medicine sequences (1). Should clude ␴C, which displays cell binding activity, induces
VA, the unprotected University of Georgia type-specific neutralizing antibodies, and allows for
a broiler breeder
Athens, GA 30602 genotyping classification of ARVs using molecular
flock fall victim to
progeny produced an outbreak of clinical VA, the unprotected progeny methods; and ␴B which induces production of anti-
produced over the course of several weeks may be ARV antibodies and is a group-specific neutralization
severely affected with VA, sometimes with ancillary antigen (8). ARVs have been classified according to
over the course of various criteria including their antigenic configura-
enteric disease (7) and even immunosuppression
(6). Oftentimes prevention of a single serious clinical tion, pathotypes, virulence, growth in cell culture, host
several weeks may case of VA justifies economically ongoing vaccine and specificity and the type of disease or syndrome they
vaccination costs. induce. Many field and vaccine strains display at least
partial cross antigenicity and thus induce at least par-
be severely affected Avian reoviruses (ARVs) are considered ubiquitous tial cross protection (3).
in commercial poultry operations worldwide (2-4).
with VA, sometimes ARVs are commonly isolated from clinical samples ARVs are considered in general relatively inefficient
obtained from the respiratory and gastrointestinal immunogens compared to other avian pathogens,
tracts of chickens, whether they are suspected eti- which can be explained at least in part by the fact
with ancillary enteric ologies or not, reiterating their ubiquitous nature and that reoviruses display mechanisms of immunoeva-
often making it difficult to determine the significance sion and also because one of the effects of reovirus
disease and even of ARV detection. Outbreaks of true clinical reovirosis infection (as with other viruses such as MDV, IBDV and
are relatively infrequent partially due to widespread REV) is the generation of “suppressor” macrophages.
preventive use of live and inactivated vaccines and Consequently, vaccination programs intended to pro-
immunosuppression. tect broiler breeders and broilers must rely on mul-
also because many ARVs circulating in the field ap-

The Role of Vaccines in the Control Notes from the

inside of Avian Reovirus Infection, p.1 CEO, p.4
tiple vaccinations (6). In addition, the anti- from a contaminated breeder flock until
body responses that follow early live virus the flock seroconverts, step up biosecurity,
vaccinations tend to be short-lived and often and even use an autogenous inactivated
require a live virus vaccine boost prior to ad- vaccine to complement the protection pro-
ministration of inactivated vaccines in order vided against standard strains of ARV.
to obtain the maximum potential of inac-
tivated vaccines. Thus, the poultry industry In addition to VA, ARVs have been associat-
typically vaccinates broiler breeder pullets ed more loosely with other diseases or syn-
and cockerels at least twice with live reo- dromes such as malabsorption syndrome
virus vaccines usually related to the S1133 (MAS), runting and stunting syndrome (RSS),
strain of ARV within the first 6 weeks of age. viral enteritis, immunosuppressive disease
Only the pullets are vaccinated with inacti- and some forms of encephalitis, enteritis,
vated vaccines, usually at approximately 12 myocarditis and hepatitis (4). Although
and 18 weeks of age, with the objective of ARVs are likely to participate in multiple
stimulating maternal immunity to be trans- syndromes including the aforementioned,
ferred to the progeny prior to onset of egg it is generally quite difficult to reproduce
production. Broiler chickens are much less them just by infecting susceptible chickens
frequently vaccinated against ARV and gen- with ARVs isolated from affected flocks, a
erally it is not necessary to vaccinate them fact that suggests that ARVs may be co-
except in certain circumstances. Young participants in some of those syndromes,
chickens including broilers should be pro- but are unlikely to be directly and solely re-
tected through maternal antibodies stimu- sponsible for such syndromes. Therefore, it
lated after live and killed vaccinations in the is more difficult to justify economically vac-
parents. This type of vaccination program cinating flocks with specific ARVs hoping
is usually very effective in controlling VA in to prevent a variety of ARV-associated dis-
eases or syndromes, including MAS,
RSS and other conditions. Again, the
most important reason for vaccinat-
ing broiler breeders against avian
reoviruses is for prevention of VA in
young breeders and their progeny,
albeit it is quite possible that other
syndromes may be at least partially
mitigated after vaccination against
VA with ARVs that cross-protect
against ARVs other than the ones
that induce classical VA.
Keeping in mind that ARVs tend to
be less immunogenic in general
Gross lesions and cytology of synovial fluid from broiler chicks in a natural
(field) case of severe VA in broiler chickens. A = Severe tendon swelling. than other avian pathogens, a suc-
Note that the tendon swelling in vertically infected chickens tends to involve cessful immunization program de-
the tendons below the hock joint (as opposed to the gastrocnemius pends heavily on adequate priming
tendon, which tends to be more frequently affected on chickens
affected after hatch); B = Areas of severe swelling around the hock joint;
and boosting with live vaccines, and
C = Severe edema and microhemorrhages in the tendon of an affected further boosting using killed vac-
chick; D = Abundant inflammatory cells in the synovial fluid obtained cines to attain a robust immune re-
from a joint in a young chicken affected with VA.
sponse capable of protecting young
broiler progeny, especially during
the first days or weeks of life, when chickens
broiler breeders and their broiler progeny. tend to be more susceptible to clinical infec-
On occasion, a novel or unusual ARV strain tion with ARV.
unrelated to common vaccine strains might
cause significant problems in the field. Un- Measuring actual protection against ARV
der such circumstances standard vaccines infection and more specifically against VA
may not be sufficient to protect the prog- after vaccination is difficult to accomplish
eny and therefore it may become necessary objectively because of the potential vari-
to temporarily not use the hatching eggs ability of ARV strains. Commercial vaccines
contain one or more ARV strains that in-
duce antibody responses measurable with
laboratory tools such as ELISA, which pro-
vides a measurement of humoral immune
responses, but has inherent limitations in
terms of its predictive value for actual pro-
tection. Nevertheless, ELISA serology is one
of the most practical and economic meth-
ods of evaluating immune responses to
reovirus vaccines and a form of assessment
of vaccine application. It is important to de-
fine what to expect in terms of serological
responses against reovirus after vaccina-
tion. An integrator must develop baseline
serology data to know what is expected in
flocks vaccinated against ARV under their
own circumstances. For example, Figure
1 depicts the reovirus ELISA geometric
mean antibody titers (GMT) seen in broiler
breeders of the Southeastern United States,
where most breeder flocks receive at least
one live vaccine administered orally in the
drinking water, and one or two killed vacci-
nations at 12 and 18 weeks of age (or one
reovirus vaccination at 15 weeks of age).
As seen in Figure 1, regardless of the ELISA
system used, the antibody titers tend to
peak approximately 6 weeks after the last
(18 week old) killed vaccine is administered.
Antibody responses may be optimized over
the values seen in Figure 1 simply by ensur-
ing proper administration of two live reovi-
rus vaccines in the growing period and two
killed vaccines prior to onset of egg produc-
tion, usually at 12 and 18 weeks of age. The
data depicted in Figure 1 closely reflects the
trends in antibody responses under com-
mercial circumstances, but it should not be
interpreted that the titers illustrated are to
be expected with all vaccines and vaccina-
tion approaches.
Broiler chickens are usually not vaccinated
against reovirus unless there is a specific
need to correct a disease situation. At-
tempts have been made to mitigate out-
breaks of VA in broiler chickens by vacci-
nating them against reovirus at hatch, but
results have been inconsistent. Therefore,
it is always best and most economical to
attempt protecting the progeny through a
sound broiler breeder vaccination program
that is well monitored and supervised. Au-
togenous reovirus vaccines for breeders
have been used to attempt mitigating detri-
mental effects of syndromes such as RSS or
 ELISA “A” Reovirus Antibody Titers fects of RSS in broilers at risk when used as
autogenous vaccines, field results with such
an approach have been inconsistent. Thus,
ELISA “A” Antibody Titer (GMT)

7000
commercial reovirus vaccines should be
6000 considered primarily an aid in the preven-
tion and control of VA, whereas their role in
5000
the prevention of other ARV-associated syn-
4000 dromes still needs further clarification.
3000 References
2000 1. Dobson, K. N., and J. R. Glisson. Economic
impact of a documented case of reovirus
1000 infection in broiler breeders. Avian diseas-
0 es 36:788-791. 1992.
1 2-4 9-11 16-18 24-26 34-36 44-46 54-56 64-66
day weeks weeks weeks weeks weeks weeks weeks weeks 2. Jones, R. C. Avian reovirus infections. Revue
scientifique et technique (International
B R E E D E R A G E R A N G E ( W E E K S )
Office of Epizootics) 19:614-625. 2000.

3. Jones, R. C. Reovirus Infections. In: Diseas-

ELISA “B” Reovirus Antibody Titers es of Poultry. Y. M. Saif, J. R. Glisson, A. M.
Fadly, L. R. McDougald, L. K. Nolan, and D.
ELISA “B” Antibody Titer (GMT)

7000 E. Swayne (eds). ed. Blackwell Publishing,

Ames, IA. pp 309-310. 2008.
6000
5000 4. Jones, R. C. Viral Arthritis. In: Diseases of
Poultry. Y. M. Saif, J. R. Glisson, A. M. Fad-
4000 ly, L. R. McDougald, L. K. Nolan, and D. E.
3000 Swayne (eds). ed. Blackwell Publishing,
Ames, IA. pp 310-322. 2008.
2000
5. Meanger, J., R. Wickramasinghe, C. E.
1000
Enriquez, and G. E. Wilcox. Immune
0 response to avian reovirus in chickens and
1 2-4 9-11 16-18 24-26 34-36 44-46 54-56 64-66 protection against experimental infection.
day weeks weeks weeks weeks weeks weeks weeks weeks
Australian veterinary journal 75:428-432.
B R E E D E R A G E R A N G E ( W E E K S ) 1997.

6. Schat, K. A., and M. A. Skinner Avian Immu-

Figure 1. Reovirus ELISA antibody titers in broiler breeders. Two commercial ELISA systems produced similar results after test-
nosuppressive Diseases and Immunoeva-
ing blood samples for detection of reovirus antibodies in broiler breeders in the South Eastern United States. Although these
Geometric Mean Titers (GMT) may not reflect the status of all broiler breeder flocks or what should actually be expected after sion. In: Avian Immunology. F. Davison, B.
any reovirus vaccinations, they illustrate the trends in the poultry industry after 1-2 live reovirus vaccinations and 1-2 killed Kaspers and K. A. Schat, eds. Elsevier, Ltd.,
reovirus vaccine administrations. London, U.K. pp 314-337. 2008.

7. Songserm, T., D. van Roozelaar, A. Kant, J.

MAS in broilers but the results have been in-
consistent. An improvement in early broiler
body weight gain (from 0 to 10 days of age)
was observed in one experiment conducted
in our laboratory. Broiler chicks produced at
a company with severe RSS problems and
obtained from a 43-week-old breeder flock
that had received three live vaccines (one
produced in tissue culture and two in chick-
en embryos), two commercial killed vac-
cines and one autogenous reovirus vaccine
displayed improved body weight gain by 10
days of age, compared to the progeny of a
sister flock that received the same vaccines
except the autogenous vaccine. Although
it is possible that some ARVs may be at
least partially responsible for RSS and that
some of those ARVs may mitigate the ef-
Pol, A. Pijpers, and A. ter Huurne. Entero-
pathogenicity of Dutch and German avian
reoviruses in SPF white leghorn chickens
and broilers. Veterinary research 34:285-
295. 2003.
8. Tran, A., A. Berard, and K. M. Coombs Avian
reoviruses: propagation, quantification,
and storage. Current protocols in microbi-
ology Chapter 15: Unit15C 12. 2009.
Notes from the CEO
In January 2010, Lohmann introduced
a new image globally. Integral to our
company’s new brand is our “Preven-
tion First” philosophy.
Lohmann develops, manufactures and
markets nutritional products to as-
sure healthy animals. Healthy animals
are more productive animals. Healthy
animals are more resistant to disease
and do not require treatment. We
have provided products to promote
Dave Zacek the health of animals to the global
CEO, market for decades and are leaders in
Lohmann Animal Health Europe. Recently, we have begun to in-
troduce our line of nutritional products
in the United States as well. Talk to your Lohmann representative to
learn about our line of nutritional products. They include pigments,
vitamins and mineral preparations.
Another major element of prevention is our avian vaccine line, proven
to keep poultry flocks healthy by preventing various diseases.
At our Winslow, Maine vaccine production laboratories, we focus on
inactivated vaccines. These vaccines are normally given to birds near
avianinsight for more information:
(+1) 207-873 3989
onset of lay. The application of these vaccines performs two func-
tions: to prevent damage from challenge to vaccinates themselves
and to prevent damage from challenges to the offspring via mater-
nally derived antibodies passed to the chick via the yolk.
A good example of the dual action of inactivated vaccines is our
REO virus inactivated vaccine which is presented alone and in
combination with other antigens. This product is aimed at breeder
replacement pullets. Not only does it prevent damage to the vacci-
nated bird from REO field challenges, it also protects offspring. REO
virus field challenges can produce different symptoms in unprotect-
ed birds depending upon the tissue targeted by the specific REO
strain. Since REO virus isolates are of one serotype, there is good
cross protection between strains. So a protective titer in breeders
is effective in protecting against tenosynovitis in the vaccinate and
growth stunting in offspring. Our proprietary adjuvants help assure
protection to both hen and offspring.
Talk to your Lohmann representative about your REO concerns. He
is fully trained to help you handle these issues and many more.
Because with “prevention first”, we can work together to produce
healthy animals.
Lohmann Animal Health International
375 China Road
Winslow, Maine 04901, USA
(+1) 800-655 1342 www.lahinternational.com