Avian leukosis virus infection and shedding in brown leghorn chickens treated with corticosterone or exposed to various stressors

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Abstract
Increased levels of plasma corticosterone following administration of the hormone at 1, but not 2, weeks after exposure to avian leukosis virus (ALV) at hatching, significantly increased cloacal shedding of ALV in chickens that lacked maternal antibody (MAB) to ALV. Exposure of 2‐week‐old chickens, which had been exposed to virus at hatching, to heat‐ or cold‐stress for 21 days had no effect on ALV infection and shedding. MAB significantly reduced or eliminated shedding in treated as well as in control chickens. Induced moulting or raised circulating corticosterone in adult hens did not influence the incidence of ALV infection or shedding.