Experimental infection in turkeys and chickens with Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale

Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale was found to cause growth retardation in both turkeys and chickens after experimental intra-air sac administration and to cause growth retardation together with airsacculitis and pneumonia after aerosol administration. Both turkey and chicken isolates of O. rhinotracheale were able to induce the same kind of respiratory inflammations and weight-gain losses in chickens as well as turkeys. Turkey rhinotracheitis virus was found to have a triggering effect on the O. rhinotracheale infection in turkeys, and Newcastle disease virus and to a lesser extent infectious bronchitis virus showed triggering effects on the O. rhinotracheale infection in chickens. Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale could be reisolated from affected organs of experimentally infected birds.