Experimental study of contagious paralysis of pigeons.

A study of the clinical and pathological changes in pigeons experimentally inoculated with a herpesvirus isolated recently from natural cases of a condition termed contagious paralysis was carried out. Signs and pathological findings similar to those recorded in natural cases were produced after inoculation of the isolate via different routes. The incubation period differed according to the route of inoculation from 2 to 10 days and the course of the disease from 5 to 21 days. The mortality ranged from 100% in the intracerebrally inoculated pigeons to 61% in the orally infected ones. The clinical signs and the gross and histopathological changes included mainly progressive paralysis, meningo-encephalomyelitis, pancreatitis and sometimes enteritis.