Experimental infection of chickens with adenoviruses isolated from tenosynovitis

Two adenoviruses isolated as the only viruses from the hock joints of chickens in outbreaks of tenosynovitis were tested for their ability to cause experimental tenosynovitis in chickens. It was previously shown that they were capable of growth in tendon organ cultures. One strain, designated 92, was used for infection of specific pathogen-free light hybrid chicks either in ovo at 17 days incubation or at 1-day-old orally or via the footpad. It was also used for infection of commercial broiler chicks at 1-day-old via the oral or footpad routes. The other virus, strain PS, was similarly used for infection of broiler chicks via the same routes. In none of the experiments did clinical signs or lesions of tenosynovitis develop other than transient inflammatory changes in the tissues and there was no evidence of prolonged virus persistence in hock joints. Of the tissues examined for virus, persistence was greatest in the gut.