[Comparative pathomorphological studies of turkeys and hens experimentally infected with Newcastle disease virus]

Comparative pathomorphologic studies were carried out with 40 birds (29 turkeys and 11 hens) infected per os with 0.5 cc embryonal fluid 10(5) ELD 50 each with two Newcastle disease virus strains (Texas -- standard and 7/5 isolated from dead hens and typed as viscerotropic). It was found that the pathoanatomical picture is negative for all birds experimentally infected with the Texas strain. Haemorrhagic necrotic modification of the glandular stomach and intestine were found in birds infected with strain 7/5. The pathoanatomical finding is better expressed in hens compared with that for turkeys. The histologic modification in birds infected with strain Texas were manifested mostly by nonsuppurative encephalitis. Haemorrhagic-diphtheroid inflammation of the alimentary tract, haemorrhages in the viscera and unreactive necrotic foci in the spleen as well as poorly manifested inflammatory changes in the central nervous system were found in birds infected with strain 7/5. No pathoanatomical modifications for Newcastle disease were found in turkeys, analogous to hens, infected with velogenic neurotropic virus. The velogenic viscerotropic strain is less pathogenic for turkeys than for hens. It causes slighter haemorrhagic necrotic modification in turkeys viscera than in hens. Nonsuppurative encephalitis established histologically in both turkeys and hens infected with neurotropic and viscerotropic Newcastle disease virus is a constant finding and may be used as a diagnostic sign of the disease.