Effect of Composting Poultry Carcasses on Survival of Exotic Avian Viruses: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Virus and Adenovirus of Egg Drop Syndrome-76

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Abstract
Eight-week-old chickens were inoculated with one of two exotic viruses to determine the effect of composting on virus survival. Group 1 chickens were inoculated with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus via the caudal thoracic air sac. Group 2 chickens were inoculated with the adenovirus that causes egg drop syndrome-76 (EDS-76) by the oral route. Five days after inoculation, lung, trachea, and air sacs for HPAI and spleen, cecal tonsils, and bursa of Fabricius for EDS-76 were collected and composted with poultry carcasses. At the end of the first 10 days of composting, virus-isolation efforts showed that the HPAI virus had been inactivated, and only 1 of 20 tissue samples yielded the adenovirus of EDS-76. The viruses of HPAI and EDS-76 were completely inactivated at the end of the second 10-day period of the two-stage composting process. Control tissues collected at necropsy and frozen at -70 C for virus isolation were all positive for virus.

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