title: Isolation and detection of duck astrovirus CPH: implications for epidemiology and pathogenicity.
abstract: The transmission routes of duck astrovirus CPH (DAstV/CPH) and its pathogenicity in duck embryos were investigated. Using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) developed in this study, DAstV/CPH was detected in 23/50 fresh droppings of breeder ducks, 39/65 breeding eggs, 26/31 dead embryos, and 6/10 newly hatched ducklings, which were taken from a Pekin duck farm where DAstV/CPH had previously been identified. This finding, and the detection of DAstV/CPH in 36/130 dead-in-shell duck embryo samples collected from different hatcheries located in six provinces, suggests that the virus may be horizontally and vertically transmitted and associated with hatchability problems. Inoculation and repeated passages in embryonating duck eggs resulted in isolation of DAstV/CPH. The virus caused severe chorioallantoic membrane lesions as well as growth retardation and embryo mortality, indicating that DAstV/CPH is pathogenic for duck embryos. The effect of DAstV/CPH on hatching was confirmed by an embryo infection experiment in which 8/10 9-day-old duck embryos inoculated with the third passage of DAstV/CPH were unable to hatch, with most embryos succumbing in the final stage of incubation. The use of RT-PCR on the hatched ducklings provided evidence that the embryos could develop into infected ducklings.
authors.affiliation: a Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology and Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine , China Agricultural University , Beijing , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: a Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology and Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine , China Agricultural University , Beijing , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: a Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology and Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine , China Agricultural University , Beijing , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Minghang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: a Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology and Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine , China Agricultural University , Beijing , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fumin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: a Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology and Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine , China Agricultural University , Beijing , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: a Key Laboratory of Animal Epidemiology and Zoonosis of Ministry of Agriculture, College of Veterinary Medicine , China Agricultural University , Beijing , People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dabing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D019350:Astroviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D052676:Avastrovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D049033:Chorioallantoic Membrane / Q000473:pathology; D004372:Ducks / Q000821:virology*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000662:veterinary; D014774:Virulence
keywords: Astroviridae; Avastrovirus; astrovirus; avian astrovirus; duck astrovirus