Demonstration in live chickens of the carrier state in infectious laryngotracheitis

Two separate groups of nine-week-old specific pathogen free cockerels maintained in isolation were infected with a field strain of infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) virus, either by intratracheal or combined intranasal and supraconjunctival inoculation. Birds were monitored for virus shedding from five sites on alternate days during the acute phase and three times weekly until week 17. They were then treated with cyclophosphamide on three consecutive days and thereafter swabbed daily. During the acute phase clinical signs were observed and virus was recovered from ocular and nasal sites for up to six to eight days. Initially after the acute phase no virus could be detected. However, from the seventh week after infection intermittent, apparently spontaneous shedding was detected in four of five birds in each group. There was no clear effect of cyclophosphamide treatment on re-excretion patterns, possibly because of the high levels of virus shedding already occurring. Thus, a carrier state for ILT virus has been demonstrated experimentally in live clinically recovered birds.