G C Okpe

J O A Okoye

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ACTA VET. BRNO, 58,1989:91-96 
THE PATHOGENICITY OF AN ISOLATE OF INFECTIOUS 
BURSAL DISEASE VIRUS IN GUINEA FOWLS 
J. O. A. OKOYE and G.C. OKPE 
Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, 
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria 
Received March 28, 1988 
A b s t r act 
o k 0 Y e J. O. A., G. C. 0 k P e: The Pathogenicity of 
An Isolate of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus in Guinea Fowls. 
Acta vet. Bmo, 58, 1989:91-96. 
Five weeks old guinea fowls were inoculated intraocularly 
with a 20% bursal suspension containing a local Nigerian isolate 
of infectious burfa! disease virus (IBDV) which had a bursal 
lesion titre of 10· per 0.5 mI. No clinical signs were 
observed. Gross lesions were absent and microscopic lesions 
were not found in the bursa, spleen and kidney on days 3 and 
5 post infection (PI). IBDV antigen was not detected in the 
bursa. Tests for IBDV precipitins in serum samples obtained 
on day 14 PI were also negative. 
IBDV, Guinea fowl, experimental infection. 
Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is mainly a disease of domestic fowl 
(0 k 0 Y e 1984) . Turkeys have been observed to respond serologically 
to IBD virus (IBDV) infection without clinical signs (Wei sma n and 
Hitchner 1978; Perelman and Heller 1981 and 1983). 
M c Nul t y et aI. (1979) isolated IBDV from turkeys suffering from 
natural diarrhoea. IlIIIIWlosuppression has also been reported iu IBDV 
infection in turkeys even in the absence of any clinical or pathological 
changes (C h u i and Tho r sen 1984). Serological evidence of 
infection has been described in village weaver and condonbleu 
(N a w a the et aI. 1978). Pigeons have been found 
resistand (F r i t z s c h e et aI. 1981) but natural IBD has been 
recorded in artificially reared pheasants (L 0 u z i s et aI. 
1979). E d gar and C h 0 (1965) reported the death of English sparrows 
on a farm with an outbreak of IBD but provided no confirmatory 
data. Yam a d a et aI. (1982) failed to induce clinical IBD in ducks 
but the birds responded serologically. No antibody against IBDV was detected 
in egg yolk from quails, ducks, geese, bantams or pigeons 
by H i r 0 s e and H ira i (1976). 
However, there is still limited information on the susceptibility of 
some avian species to IBDV infection. This paper describes the pathogenicity 
of an isolate of IBDV in guinea fowls. 
92 
Materials and Methods 
Flo c k his tor y and I B 0 V 
The IBDV was obtained as a 20% suspension, in phosphate buffered saline 
(PBS), of the bursa of chickens that died Qf outbreaks of IBD confirmed 
by methods already described by 0 k 0 y e and U Z 0 u k w u (1981). 
Thfi 5 suspension was found to contain bursal lesion (BL50) titre of 
10 • /0.5 ml by method of R e e d and M u e n c h (1938). 
The guinea fowls were obtained at one day of agEand brooded by the deep 
litter system. At 5 weeks of age they were divided into 2 groups (A and 
B), placed in cages and housed separately. Group A fowls were each given 
a total of 0.05 ml of the bursal suspension in the 2 eyes. Group B birds 
were each similarly treated with 20% normal bursal suspension in PBD 
(uninfected control). 
E x ami nat ion 
Pat h 0 log i cal 
for C lin i cal 
C han g e s 
and 
Both groups were observed twice daily for clinical signs. On days 3 and 
5 post infection (PI) 3 infected and 2 control birds were sacrificed and 
examined for gross lesions. The weights of the carcass and bursa were 
obtained for each bird and the bursal % of carcass weight was determined. 
The bursa, spleen and kidney of the birds were prepared for histopathology. 
E x ami nat ion for I BOa n t i g e n i nth e 
bur s a 
Bursas of birds sacrificed in both groups on days 3 and 5 PI were suspended 
with equivalent weight/volume of PBS to make a 50% suspension. The 
suspension was tested for IBDV antigen by agar gel diffusion precipitation 
test (AGDT) using the method and agar described by 0 k 0 y e and 
U Z 0 u k w u (1981). 
E x ami nat ion f·o rIB 0 V pre c i pit ins 
Blood was collected from 5 of the guinea fowls at day 0 before infection, 
from 5 infected and 5 uninfected 14 days PI. Sera were harvested and 
inactivated at 56·C for 30 min.. The samples were tested for IBDV 
precipitins in AGDT as described above. 
Results 
Clinical and Pathological changes 
No clinical signs were observed in both groups of guinea 
fowls throughout the experiment. Neither gross nor micro-
93 
scopic lesions were seen in the sacrificed birds. The weights 
of the carcass, bursa and bursal % of ·carcass weights are 
shown in Table I. The figures were statistically analysed 
using sampl~ t-test and there was no significant difference 
between the 2 groups (P > 0.05). 
Table I 
Bursal and carcass weights of IBDV infected and noninfected 
guinea fowls 
Days 
P1 
Infection 
history 
Carcass Bursal Bursal % Mean 
wt. wt. of carcass carcass 
(gm) wt. wt. 
Mean Mean bursal 
bursal % of 
wt. carcass wt. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Group B 111.00 0.04 
(noninfected) 126.60 0.06 
Group A 
(infected) 
143.20 
122.20 
ll9.40 
0.06 
0.06 
0.05 
0.04 
0.05 
0.04 
0.05 
0.04 
ll8.80 0.05 0.05 
128.27 0.06 0.04 
-----------------------------------------------~--------------------------
5 Group B 132.20 0.06 
(noninfected) 101.10 0.04 
Group A 
(infected) 
162.6 
100.1 
102.4 
0.07 
0.04 
0.05 
0.05 
0.03 
0.05 
0.04 
0.04 
P > 0.05 
AGDT 
ll6.65 0.05 0.04 
121. 70 0.05 0.04 
- The test for IBDV antigen in the bursa of the birds 
sacrificed in the 2 groups gave negative results. The test 
for IBDV precipitins in pre-infection and post infection 
sera also gave negative results. In both tests positive 
controls gave positive results within 36 hr. 
Discussion 
Reports of experimental infection of guinea fowls with 
IBDV appear to be scarce. But N a w a the et ale (1978) 
and 0 k 0 Y e (1988) after serological surveys of guinea 
94 
fowl farms by AGP~T found no evidence of IBDV infection 
in the birds. The '. clinical and pathological results of this 
investigation. indicate that IBDV may not be pathogenic 
to guinea fowls. AGDT has been found less sensitive than 
virus isolation, fluorescent antibody test, serum 
neutralization test and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay 
in detecting IBDV infection (I d e 1975; Ma r q u-
a r d t et al. 1980; How i e and Tho r sen 1981; 
p'" h i I lip s 1981). Hence more work is needed to 
determine if the birds are completely resistant to IBDV 
infection. 
Guinea fowls exist in the wild and are often reared in 
the same premises or areas with susceptible chickens. It 
is therefore necessary to determine if they play any role 
in the spread of the disease to chickens. 
Patogenita isolaitu viru infekcni bursitidy 
u perlicky domaci 
Kumta perlicky domaci byla ve veku 5 tydnu intraokulair-
ne inokulovana 20%ni bursalni suspenzi s obsahem lok81niho 
nigerijskeho isolaitu viru infekcni bursitidy (IBDV) s titrem 
bursalnich lezi 104 . 5 v 0?5 ml. Klinicke znlimky onemocneni 
pozorovany nebyly. Patologicke leze rovnez nebyly naleze-
ny, patohistologicky n81ez na burs~ Fabrizii, slezine a led-
vinach byl 3. a 5. den po infekci negativni. IBDV antigen 
v burse nalezen nebyl, negativni byly i testy na detekci 
IBDV precipitinu ve vzorcich krevniho sera, odebranych 
14. den po infekci. 
Tyto nalezy naznacuji, ze pro perlicku domaci IBDV pato-
genni neni. 
naToreHHOCTb H30nHTa BHpyca HH~eKUHoHHoro 
OypcHTa Y uecapKH 
UbInnHT uecapKH B B03pacTe 5 He,Itenb HHoKynHpoBanH 
20% OypcaJ1bJHOH cycneH3HeH c cO,ItepJtaHHeM MeCTHoro 
HHrepHHcKoro H30nHTa BHpyca HH~eKUHoHHoro OypcHTa 
95 
(IBDV) C THTPOM 6ypCanbH~ nOBpe~eHHH 104• 5 
B 0,5 MJI. KnHHHlIecKHe npH3HaKH 3a6oneBaHHfI He 
Ha6mo~anH. naTonorHlIeCKHe nOBpe~eHHfI He ~bUIH 
TaK)le . BbJflBneHbJ, naTorHCTonorHlIeCKHH aHanH3 Ha 
bursa Fabrizii, cene3eHKe H nOllKax 3 H 5 CYTKH 
nocne HH~eKUHH 6bUI HeraTHBHbIM. AHTHreH IBDV B CYMKe 
He 06HaPY"eH, HeraTHBHbIMH 6bUIH TaK)le TeCTbJ ~e­
TeKTHpOBaHHfI IBDV npeUHnHTHHOB B 06pa3uax KPaBflHOH 
CbJBOPOTKH, B3f1T~ lIepe3 ~Be He~enH nocne HH~eKUHH. 
nOnylleHHbJe ~aHHbJe ~amT B03MO)lHOCTb npe~nonO"HTb, 
liTO IBDV ~fI uecapKH He flBnfleTCfI naTOreHHbIM. 
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THE PATHOGENICITY OF AN ISOLATE OF INFECTIOUS BURSAL DISEASE VIRUS IN GUINEA FOWLS

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THE PATHOGENICITY OF AN ISOLATE OF INFECTIOUS BURSAL DISEASE VIRUS IN GUINEA FOWLS

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