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A Newly
Discovered and Sequenced Turkey Disease Virus
By Sharon Durham
October 11, 2001A never-before-described virus that
infects young turkeys has been identified and its sequence deciphered by
Agricultural Research Service scientists
in Athens, Ga. The virus, which has caused problems for southeastern poultry
producers since the early 1990s, is now circulating throughout the United
States.
The virus is associated with Poult Enteritis Mortality Syndrome (PEMS), a
highly infectious, transmissible disease of young turkeys that causes severe
diarrhea, stunted growth and high death rates in young flocks. PEMS is also
associated with lifelong changes to the turkey immune system and leaves the
birds highly susceptible to other infectious agents.
ARS scientist Stacey Schultz-Cherry’s unit at the
Southeast Poultry Research Laboratoryin Athens isolated the avian disease-causing organism, called an astrovirus, a
small RNA virus. Scientists isolated this small virus--also associated with
diarrhea outbreaks in humans and other animals--from turkey poults infected
with PEMS. Schultz-Cherry’s group has devised diagnostic tests and will
now focus on how the virus causes disease and how it affects the immune
response. This information may lead the way to vaccines for the emerging
disease.
This particular astrovirus is very stable and resistant to disinfection, so
the research results could also be used to develop kits to test for virus
present in poultry houses that have been cleaned. Currently, poult producers
can only rely on proper disinfection and biosecurity procedures to prevent
infection of their flocks.
A patent on the sequence was filed in July 2001, and the sequence is
available for licensing. Diagnostic companies could utilize the technology to
make testing kits available to turkey producers. PEMS outbreaks have cost the
turkey industry millions of dollars in annual losses.
The next step for the researchers is to determine the reservoir of this
astrovirus and to find out if the virus can move from turkeys to other bird
species.
ARS is the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's principal scientific research agency.
