Induction of hydropericardium in one-day-old specific-pathogen-free chicks by adenoviruses from inclusion body hepatitis.

The pathogenicities of inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) and hydropericardium syndrome (HPS) strains of adenovirus for specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chicks were compared. One-day-old SPF chicks inoculated intramuscularly with the DPI-2 (serotype 2), S-PL1 (serotype 2), TR630 (serotype 8), and Saga97 (serotype 8) strains from IBH and with the LVP-1 strain (serotype 4) from HPS exhibited the mortality, liver enlargement, and hydropericardium characteristic of gross change found in HPS. The chicks inoculated with the IBH and HPS strains exhibited similar histologic and immunohistochemical changes. Neither mortality nor pathologic changes occurred in 3-wk-old SPF chicks inoculated with IBH strains, although HPS strain induced HPS lesions in them. This study indicates that IBH strains of adenovirus can also reproduce HPS lesions and mortality in 1-day-old SPF chicks and that IBH and HPS strains may have similar pathogenicities except for their different virulence for older chickens.