First report of Duck Hepatitis A virus genotype 2 in India

Sudden death of ducklings was reported in a duck farm located at Tiruvallur district in Tamil Nadu, India. Disease investigation began with post mortem findings of dead birds revealing enlarged pale-pink / pale-yellow liver with multifocal petechiae and ecchymosis. A positive amplification with duck hepatitis A virus specific primers by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on the tissue samples collected from dead birds indicated infection by duck hepatitis A virus (DHAV), an avian picornavirus, known to cause acute and high-mortality in ducklings. The virus isolation was successful in 9-days old embryonated chicken eggs, in primary chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cells and from experimentally infected ducklings. The embryonic death on day 5 to 7 post inoculation in chicken embryos with signs of cutaneous hemorrhage, edema and greenish yellow liver together with histopathology of embryonic liver and kidney further confirmed DHAV infection. TEM analysis of the infected allantoic fluid and infected CEF cell culture supernatant showed the presence of spherical shaped, non-enveloped virion particles of ~ 20-38 nm diameter, typical for DHAV. Experimental infection of ducklings with RT-PCR positive tissue supernatant caused 40% to 50% mortality with typical petechial hemorrhages on the surface of liver. Further, histopathological analysis and RT-PCR of the inoculated duckling's tissues confirmed the presence of DHAV. Nucleotide sequencing of the 5'UTR region and VP1 region confirmed duck hepatitis A virus genotype 2 (DHAV-2). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of laboratory confirmation of DHAV-2 in India. This study warrants the need for the extensive epidemiological surveillance to understand the prevalence of DHAV-2 in India and to take appropriate control measures to curtail the disease spread.