Molecular Detection and Pathology of Avian Pox in Naturally Infected Pigeons of Meerut

Abstract

Current study was conducted on 86 pigeon samples (65 from live birds and 21 samples from dead birds) collected from five villages of Meerut (Lawad, Shivaya, Pawali khas, Bafawat and Khirwa) from the pigeons having pox mimicking lesions. PCR was applied on all the 86 samples while histological diagnosis was done on 21 dead carcasses. A total of 80 (93%) samples were found positive for avian pox virus by either or both techniques. Risk factors like age, sex, and season and loft size were studied. Highest occurrence of disease was recorded in birds of less than 4 week of age (48.8%), summer season (62.8%), male birds (58.1%) and loft size 26 to 50 birds (38.4%). Gross lesions mainly noticed in cutaneous tissues of unfeathered body parts of birds (around the eye, beak, face, anus and legs) while wet pox affecting primarily oral cavity and oesophagus. Microscopic examination revealed hyperplasia of stratum spinosum, presence of eosinophilic inclusions (Bollinger bodies) in cutaneous lesions, fibronecrotic membrane (diphtheritic) on oesophagus, congestion, focal necrosis and mononuclear cell infiltration in most of the organs except heart which did not show any alteration. NCBI blast analysis of sequences of our study, identity matrix and phylogenetic analysis all revealed that all the isolates of present study are of pigeon pox virus.