Haemorrhagic enteritis associated with herpesvirus in storks.

Herpesvirus infection was diagnosed histologically and electron microscopically in white storks (Ciconia ciconia) and abdim storks (Ciconia abdimi). The consistent lesions of herpesvirus infection were haemorrhagic enteritis, with a slight mononuclear cellular infiltrate, dilatation of the crypts lined by a flat epithelium, necrotic foci in the spleen, and focal or scattered coagulative necrosis in the liver without cellular reaction. Intranuclear inclusion bodies were observed in epithelial cells, endothelial cells, lymphocytes, macrophages/monocytes, fibroblasts and smooth muscle cells in digestive tract, spleen, liver, ovary, oviduct and lung. Ultrastructurally, characteristic herpesvirus replication sites were observed in the nuclei of infected cells, with clusters of intracytoplasmic virions and associated structures, intranuclear tubular structures and filamentous aggregates.