Characterisation of avian adenoviruses associated with inclusion body hepatitis

Eleven avian adenoviruses were isolated in monolayer cultures of specific pathogen free chicken kidney cells which were inoculated with suspensions of liver, intestine or bursa obtained from 15 broiler flocks experiencing outbreaks of inclusion body hepatitis (10 isolates) and from five unaffected flocks (one isolate). Of the 11 isolates obtained, nine were identified by virus neutralisation tests as serotype 8, one as serotype 1 and one as serotype 12. Adeno-associated viruses were only observed in combination with adenoviral particles of the serotype 12 isolate which was derived from a relatively mild outbreak of inclusion body hepatitis. Only the serotype 1 isolate, obtained from the unaffected broiler flock, consistently caused the death of embryos with marked pathological changes. All of the isolates produced basophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies surrounded by clear halos in chicken kidney cell cultures. DNA preparations, obtained from six strains of serotype 8 avian adenovirus (two New Zealand isolates, three Australian isolates and the reference strain HVI) after digestion with the restriction enzymes EcoRI and BamHI, gave electrophoretic patterns showing the New Zealand isolates to be similar to one another and to strain HVI, but quite distinct from the Australian isolates.