Pathogenicity of CL-1 chicken anemia agent

Twelve-day-old broiler-type chickens had hemorrhagic necrotic wing tips. After 10 blind subcultures in an MDCC-MSB1 cell line, a virus (so-called chick anemia agent [CAA]) was isolated and designated CL-1 CAA. Five-day-old specific-pathogen-free chicken embryos from a commercial breeder flock that were found not to possess antibody against CAA were infected with CL-1 virus via yolk-sac injection. Many (49%) infected embryos were small and apparently had died from severe systemic hemorrhage. Hatched chicks were small and had pale feathers, skin, skeletal muscles, bone marrow, and viscera. All infected chicks had small thymuses. These thymuses often were so small that they could not be found grossly (P = 0.002). Anemia occurred within 4 days post-hatch. Microscopically, all hematopoietic organs were markedly atrophic. Septic necrotizing lesions were seen only in organs from CL-1-injected chicks. Physicochemical and pathological characteristics of this virus indicate that it is similar to other isolates of CAA found in Europe and Japan.