Assessing pathogenicity potential of waterfowl-origin type A influenza viruses in chickens

Intravenous pathogenicity index (IVPI) tests on 29 wild duck-origin type A influenza viruses, two turkey-origin type A influenza viruses, and one chicken-origin type A influenza virus resulted in indices ranging from 0.0 to 0.49. Most of the wild duck-origin viruses and the two turkey-origin viruses had indices of 0.0, indicating they are not pathogenic. Six of the duck-origin viruses had indices ranging from 0.25 to 0.49, and the IVPI for A/chicken/Alabama/75 (H4N8) was 0.49, indicating they had low pathogenic potential. An IVPI of 1.25 up to the maximum score of 3.0 is necessary for a type A influenza virus to be classified as highly pathogenic. Gross lesions observed in chickens dying following intravenous viral challenge included kidney swelling with more prominent lobular patterns, but visceral urate deposits were not present. The usefulness of the IVPI test in evaluating the pathogenicity potential of nonpathogenic and low-pathogenic strains of avian influenza virus may be limited.