Detection of chicken anaemia virus and avian reovirus by polymerase chain reaction and fluorescent antibody test in various tissues from experimentally co-infected chicks

Avian reovirus (ARV) is an economically important emerging avian pathogen associated with a variety of disease manifestations mainly viral arthritis, malabsorption syndrome and infectious proventriculitis, which are commonly observed in broilers. Chicken infectious anaemia (CIA) caused by chicken anaemia virus (CAV) has recently been reported in the country. These disease conditions many a times go unnoticed in field due to masking of pathognomic symptoms by secondary/mixed infections and nutritional disorders, which are commonly observed. Therefore, the present study was formulated with the objective to detect CAV and ARV specific antigen/nucleic acid by indirect immunofluorescent test (IIFT)/fluorescent antibody test (FAT) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. Detection of CAV and ARV infections by PCR/RT-PCR and IIFT/FAT in various tissues of infected chicks proved to be rapid and reliable tests for confirmatory disease diagnosis and could well be used for the detection of these agents at an early stage.