Isolation of the Virus of Egg Drop Syndrome 1976 (EDS-76) in a Japanese Outbreak

Abstract

We observed outbreaks of an egg drop syndrome similar to EDS-76 over the period from October, 1979 to March, 1980. A hemagglutinating virus (H-162) was isolated from the faces of a hen in a broiler breeding flock and shown to be serologically identical to the EDS-76 virus by the double immunodiffusion and hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) tests. The appearance of HI antibody to this virus was associated with the syndrome. The replication of the H-162 virus was inhibited with 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine and its infectivity was resistant to treatment by ethyl ether or chloroform. The virus was stable at pH 3.7 and readily filtered through membrane filters with 100 nm or greater pore sizes, but not through 50-nm filters. The virus multiplied with cytopathic effect in cultures of chick embryo liver and kidney cells and fibroblasts and chiken kidney cells. Eosinophilic inclusion bodies were observed in the nuclei of infected cells. Electron microscopy revealed typical adenovirus particles often aggregated in paracrystalline array forming a cubic lattice in the nuclei of thin-sectioned cells. The virus multiplied to high titers in the allantoic cavity of duck embryos, whereas no viral growth was shown in chicken embryos. The virus agglutinated chicken erythrocytes and the reaction was specifically inhibited with antiserum against the virus.