Adjuvant effects of chitosan and calcium phosphate particles in an inactivated Newcastle disease vaccine.

The adjuvant activity of chitosan (CS) and calcium phosphate (CAP) particles was studied following intranasal (mucosal) administration to commercial chickens with inactivated Newcastle disease virus (NDV) vaccine. After three vaccinations with inactivated NDV in combination with CS or CAP an increase in antibody titers in blood and mucosal samples in chickens was observed when compared with the administration of NDV antigen only. A lower level of humoral immunity was observed in broiler chickens compared to layer-type birds. The CS-based vaccine demonstrated higher antigenic and protective activity following lethal challenge than the vaccine containing CAP. Because CS particles efficiently changed mucosal and humoral immunity and protective activity, CS may in the future be considered for use as a potential adjuvant for production of vaccines for poultry.

Molecular characterization of infectious bronchitis virus isolates from Russia and neighbouring countries: identification of intertypic recombination in the S1 gene.

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) isolates recovered in Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan between 2007 and 2010 were subjected to molecular characterization and compared with those isolated a decade ago. The IBV genome was detected in 202 out of 605 field samples from chickens with various clinical signs. Partial sequencing of the S1 gene revealed 153 vaccine strains and 49 field isolates of several genetic groups. Massachusetts, 793/B and D274 remained the predominant IBV genotypes along with QX, whereas B1648, Italy-02, Arkansas and variants accounted for about 12% of the total number. Three IBVs contained recombinant S1 gene sequences comprising genome fragments of QX-type field isolates and vaccine strains H120 (UKR/02/2009) or 4/91 (RF/03/2010), and vaccine strains H120 and D274 (RF/01/2010). The results of the present study showed a significant decline in prevalence of variant IBVs and a further spread of QX-type isolates in commercial chicken flocks in Russia as compared with the 1998 to 2002 data.

Biological characterization of Russian Mycoplasma gallisepticum field isolates.

An earlier study on commercial chickens and turkeys with a history of respiratory disease established Mycoplasma gallisepticum infection rates on 164 poultry farms of the Russian Federation. Forty-seven (29%) of these poultry farms were M. gallisepticum-positive by polymerase chain reaction but isolation of the mycoplasma was successful only on 10 farms. Five field isolates from different farms were selected for pathogenicity studies in specific pathogen-free chicks. Clinical signs, seroconversion, culture rates, air sac and tracheal lesions and mean tracheal mucosal thickness were all assessed in comparison with the reference strain, S6. Of the five isolates, MG140905 and MG070607 appeared to be slightly more pathogenic than the other three, as indicated by clinical signs, culture-positive rates and lesions, but only isolate MG140905 differed statistically (P < 0.05) from them, thus proving to be the most pathogenic. However, none of the Russian field isolates was as pathogenic as the S6 strain by the parameters measured. Stress or other factors such as concurrent bacterial or viral infections may have served as exacerbating factors for the disease seen in the naturally affected flocks. Sequence analysis of the gapA and mgc2 genes showed that MG140905 clustered with M. gallisepticum R(low) and was more distant from the majority of the Russian isolates.

H5N1 avian influenza outbreak in the Far East of Russia in 2008: new introduction.

In April 2008 an avian influenza outbreak was diagnosed in Primorsky Krai, Russia, during the spring migration of wild birds, and A/Chicken/Primorsky/85/08 H5N1 isolate was recovered. The virus had more than 99% genetic identity with A/Whooper Swan/Hokkaido/1/08 H5N1 and A/Whooper Swan/Hokkaido/2/08 H5N1 viruses that were isolated in April 2008 in Japan. The amino acid sequence of the hemagglutinin cleavage site (PQRERRRKRGLF) and intravenous pathotyping index value (IVPI 2.80) were determined; on this basis the virus was characterized as highly pathogenic. The hemagglutinin gene of the virus was shown to belong to clade 2.3.2 while other genes (PB1, PB2, PA, NP, NA, M, NS) were characteristic of Fujian-like sublineage, recovered in the territory of Russia for the first time.

Phylogenetic analysis of partial S1 and N gene sequences of infectious bronchitis virus isolates from Italy revealed genetic diversity and recombination.

A total of ten infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) isolates collected from commercial chickens in Italy in 1999 were characterized by RT-PCR and sequencing of the S1 and N genes. Phylogenetic analysis based on partial S1 gene sequences showed that five field viruses clustered together with 793/B-type strains, having 91.3-98.5% nucleotide identity within the group, and one isolate had very close sequence relationship (94.6% identity) with 624/I strain. These two IBV types have been identified in Italy previously. The other three variant isolates formed novel genotype detected recently in many countries of Western Europe. For one of these variant viruses, Italy-02, which afterwards became the prototype strain, the entire S1 gene was sequenced to confirm its originality. In contrast, phylogenetic analysis of more conserved partial N gene sequences, comprising 1-300 nucleotides, revealed different clustering. Thus, three variant IBVs of novel Italy-02 genotype, which had 96.7-99.2% S1 gene nucleotide identity with each other, belonged to three separate subgroups based on N gene sequences. 624/I-type isolate Italy-06 together with Italy-03, which was undetectable using S1 gene primers, shared 97.7% and 99.3% identity, respectively, in N gene region with vaccine strain H120. Only one of the 793/B-type isolates, Italy-10, clustered with the 793/B strain sharing 99.3% partial N gene identity, whereas the other four isolates were genetically distant from them (only 87.7-89.7% identity) and formed separate homogenous subgroup. The results demonstrated that both mutations and recombination events could contribute to the genetic diversity of the Italian isolates.

Molecular epizootiology of avian infectious bronchitis in Russia.

Molecular characterization of infectious bronchitis viruses (IBVs) isolated between 1998 and 2002 from chickens in Russia was performed. More than 250 field samples were tested by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction using two sets of primers corresponding to the most conserved 3'-untranslated region and the most variable S1 gene region of the viral genome. Ninety-one IBV isolates were characterized by phylogenetic analysis of the S1 gene hypervariable region comprising 136 to 558 nucleotides. The major group of isolates (38 viruses) showed very close sequence relationship with strains of the Massachusetts genotype circulating in Russia since the early 1970s. The analysed region of the other 22 Russian IBVs was similar (from 89 to 98% identity) to that from the strains of European genotypes including D274 (nine isolates), 793/B (10 isolates), and B1648, 624/I and Italy-02 (one isolate in each group). Two isolates from very distant geographic locations in Russia (Far East and the European part) clustered together with Chinese strains of QXIBV genotype. None of the remaining 27 Russian isolates showed a close sequence relationship with known IBV strains available in sequence databases. The majority of these variant viruses clustered into the six novel Russian genotypes, often correlating with their geographic location. The remaining five of them were placed outside these unique groups, also representing new genotypes. These data for the first time demonstrated the high genetic diversity of IBV isolates circulating in Russia.

Detection and estimation of avian infectious bronchitis virus antigen by a novel indirect liquid-phase blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using chicken and rabbit affinity purified immunoglobulins.

An indirect liquid-phase blocking (LPB) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using chicken and rabbit affinity purified immunoglobulin G (IgG) has been developed to detect and estimate avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) antigen concentration directly in infected allantoic fluid. The method is based on the principle of binding of specific IgG to the test IBV antigen and the assay of unbound IgG on an antigen-coated ELISA plate. The immunoglobulins are chicken N-terminal S2 peplomeric protein-specific IgG isolated by immunoaffinity chromatography on synthetic peptide coupled to CNBr-activated Sepharose 4B or rabbit polyclonal IgG purified from the serum using Protein A Sepharose 4B. The assay detected all tested IBV strains and field isolates propagated in chicken embryos. Signal to noise ratios were calculated from LPB ELISA absorbance units and a diagnostic threshold was established from the signal to noise ratio frequency distribution of samples positive or negative for IBV by virus titration or reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The relative sensitivity of the test ranged between 10(5) and 10(6) median egg infectious doses (EID(50)) for chicken IgG and between 10(3) and 10(4) EID(50) for rabbit IgG, depending on the test strain. The assay is simple and takes less than 3 h to perform. It does not require expensive reagents and can be readily adapted to monitor the IBV antigen concentration in allantoic fluids during propagation of vaccine strains or in samples of freeze-dried, live-attenuated IBV vaccines.