Rapid passage of avian reovirus in one‐day‐old chicks: Clinical and virological findings

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Abstract
Two avian reoviruses, strain Reo‐25 and isolate W3–492 were inoculated orally in 1‐day‐old chicks. Three to seven days post inoculation (dpi), the liver, spleen, pancreas, caecal tonsil and duodenum were collected, weighed and titrated in cell culture for their viral content. The different tissue homogenates collected were passaged several times in 1‐day‐old chicks. Reo‐25 virus was passaged only at 3‐day intervals and W3–492 virus was passaged at 3‐ and 7‐ or 14‐day intervals. For both Reo‐25 and W3–492 viruses, pathological effects and virus yields in tissues decreased with continued passages. In direct comparisons of reovirus W3–492 prior to chicken passage (PO) and after four passages at 7‐day intervals (P4) using standardised amounts of virus for inoculation of chickens, no major differences in pathological effects were observed. P4 virus could be recovered from duodenal tissue at 28 dpi and from liver tissue at 14 dpi. In contrast, PO virus could be recovered from duodenal tissue at 14 dpi and from liver tissue at 10 dpi.