An overview of Inclusion An overview of Inclusion body hepatitis-body hepatitis-

hydropericardium hydropericardium syndrome (IBH-HPS) syndrome (IBH-HPS) and and Emergence of Hydropericardium

Syndrome in Broilers of Chitwan NepalDr.Kedar Karki,Dr.Subir SinghDr.Kedar Karki,Dr.Subir Singh

CVL/IAAS,NepalCVL/IAAS,Nepal

• IBH/HPS is an acute infectious disease characterized by typical hydropericardium, severe anaemia, necrotic hepatitis and high mortality. In natural outbreaks, the affected birds may not exhibit any clinical signs (Jaffery, 1988) except sudden heavy mortality (Ravikumar et al., 1997). Mortality rates in various outbreaks range from 15- 60% (Asrani et al., 1997).

• Inclusion body hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (IBH-HPS), also known as "litchi disease", is a common disease of broiler chicken (Cheema et al., 1989) caused by fowl adenoviruses of serotype 4. The disease mostly affects young birds between 3 and 6 weeks of age (Niazi et al., 1989) and occasionally layer and breeder pullets also. Rarely the disease has been reported from older broilers, (Asrani et al., 1997) or in other species of birds like pigeon (Naeem and Akram, 1995).

• Litchi Heart disease, primarily of broiler chickens, was first reported in Angara Goth near Karachi, Pakistan, during 1987 (Khawaja et al., 1988; Gowda and Satyanarayana, 1994), and it has been reported to be particularly important in some countries in Asia and America (Jaffery, 1988; Shane, 1996; Abe et al., 1998).

• In India, the disease was noticed in Jammu during April 1994 and by July 1994, it had spread to Punjab (Gowda and Satyanarayana, 1994).

• Hydropericardium syndrome (HPS) in broiler birds of 3 to 6 weeks of age was recorded for the first time in the Haldwani area of Nainital district (UP) in lndia in November, 1994.(RAVl KUMAR, RAJESH CHANDRA, S. K. SHUKLA 1, D. K. AGRAWAL 2 and MAHESH KUMAR).

• Emergence of “Hydropericardium Syndrome” in Broilers of Chitwan

• In the month of June and July 2009, the veterinarians of Chitwan have experienced an emergence of Hydropericardium Syndrome(Singh Subir 2009) in Broilers. The disease is showing the high spread rate with high morbidity and mortality pattern. The disease has been reported from Navalparashi, Chitwan and Makwanpur.

Epidemiological Status:Chitwon Nepal

• Occurs usually in 3 to 5 wks old broiler• Mortality is 2 to 5 % daily and morbidity is more than 30

%• Mostly chicks with identified origin (imported from India)

through different dealers.• But some Nepalese hatchery sources are also

identified.• The cases recorded at VTH (IAAS) Rampur, NAL,

Bharatpur and by several field veterinarians reveals that the disease is in increasing trend.

SPORADIC CASES REPORTED IN Central veterinary Laboratory Kathmandu also

Symptoms:

• Sudden onset of mortality, dullness, huddling together, ruffled feathers and mucoid/ yellowish dropping

Postmortem Findings:

• Fluid in the pericardial sac• (‘Hydropericardium’), pin point

haemorrhage on pericardium.• Congestion of lungs.• Liver and Kidney : Enlarged, pale

and friable.• Enteritis

• FAV-4 is a highly pathogenic virus (Khawaja et al., 1988) spreading readily from flock to flock and from farm to farm (Cowen, 1992), transmitted horizontally (Aktar, 1995) by oro-faecal route (Abdul-Aziz and Hassan, 1995).

• The disease may be suspected based on characteristic gross lesions, with high mortality, among broiler chicks of 3-6 weeks of age (Ravi Kumar et al., 1997). A characteristic gross lesion is hydropericardium, occurring in more than 90% of the affected birds (Anjum et al., 1989).

• The liver may be pale yellow, swollen, friable/mottled with large areas of focal necrotic patches (Ravikumar et al., 1997). Abdul-Aziz and Hasan (1995) reported the presence of gross lesions in liver and kidneys and microscopic lesions in liver, kidneys, bursa and spleen.

Hydropericardium

Hydropericardium

Haemorrhage on pericardium

chick with IBH/HPS showing characteristic hydropericardium and hepatitis.

Leechi disease hydropericardium

Leechi disease

• Histopathological lesions, particularly the demonstration of characteristic basophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies in hepatocytes, necrotic hepatitis, oedematous and congested lungs, interstitial nephritis with urate deposition and focal haemorrhages in kidneys help in tentative diagnosis.

Liver: Hepatocytes showing basophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies. (H & E ×

400)

• The demonstration of adenoviral particles in the nucleus of infected cells by transmission electron microscopy (Chandra et al., 1997) can conclusively prove the aetiology.

• Immunodiagnosis can be performed by employing serological tests such as gel diffusion, indirect haemagglutination test, immunoperoxidase and ELISA (Noor-ul-Hassan et al., 1994; Oberoi et al., 1996; Nagal et al., 1990; Saifuddin and Wilks, 1991), which are considered to be specific and reliable. Group specificity can be confirmed with an immuno-fluorescence assay (Adair et al., 1980) whereas neutralization test has been employed to determine the exact serotype (Grimes and King, 1977; Monreal et al., 1980).

References1. Indian Journal of Comparative Microbiology, Immunology

and Infectious DiseasesYear : 2003, Volume : 24, Issue : 2:Application of polymerase chain reaction and fluorescent antibody technique for the diagnosis of inclusion body hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (IBH-HPS) caused by fowl adenovirus serotype-4 Rahul,S.,Kataria.J.M.,Kumar.N. Senthil,Dhama.K.,Dash.B.B.,Uma.R.,Praveen.B.N. Division of Avian Diseases, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar - 243122 (U.P.)

2. Emergence of Hydropericardium Syndrome in Broilers of ChitwanReported by, Dr. Subir Singh General Secretary Nepal Veterinary Association.E‐mail: subirsingh@hotmail.com