Experimental factors affecting mortality following inoculation of chickens with avian nephritis virus (G-4260)

Groups of approximately 20 one-day-old chickens were inoculated with G-4260, the reference strain of avian nephritis virus (ANV), or saline. Based on mortality rates from severe nephritis in comparable experiments, light Sussex chickens generally were more susceptible than Rhode Island red (RIR) chickens. Mortality was greater in those given broiler starter than those given other feeds, and was greater when light Sussex chickens were given broiler starter feed and cold-stressed at 15 +/- 1 C for 2 hr daily during the first week rather than brooded normally. Inoculation with G-4260 either orally or by intraperitoneal injection produced similar results in RIR chickens. Thirty-three inoculated chickens died of severe nephritis between 4 and 12 days postinoculation, and 24 (73%) of them had visceral urate deposits. Inoculated inbred white leghorn Line 15 chickens with maternal antibody to ANV were brooded normally and given broiler feed: they were susceptible to infection as evidenced by subsequent histological lesions in the kidneys and serology, but mortality was not a feature. There were no deaths from nephritis in inoculated non-inbred white leghorn chickens free of maternal antibody to ANV that were given broiler feed and brooded normally. These results have implications in standardizing experimental conditions for the study of mortality induced by G-4260 and similar viruses.