Ahead of Print - Novel Orthobunyavirus Causing Severe Kidney Disease in Broiler Chickens, Malaysia, 2014–2017 - Volume 25, Number 6—June 2019 - Emerging Infectious Diseases journal - CDC

Ahead of Print - Novel Orthobunyavirus Causing Severe Kidney Disease in Broiler Chickens, Malaysia, 2014–2017 - Volume 25, Number 6—June 2019 - Emerging Infectious Diseases journal - CDC

Volume 25, Number 6—June 2019

Research

Novel Orthobunyavirus Causing Severe Kidney Disease in Broiler Chickens, Malaysia, 2014–2017

On This Page

Materials and Methods

---

Results

---

Discussion

---

Suggested Citation

Figures

Figure 1

---

Figure 2

---

Figure 3

---

Figure 4

---

Figure 5

---

Figure 6

---

Figure 7

Tables

Table

Downloads

RIS [TXT - 2 KB] 

Article Metrics

Metric Details

Vilmos Palya , Edit Walkóné Kovács, Szilvia Marton, Tímea Tatár-Kis, Balázs Felföldi, Barbara Forró, Marianna Domán, and Krisztián Bányai

Author affiliations: Ceva-Phylaxia Veterinary Biologicals Co. Ltd., Budapest, Hungary (V. Palya, E.W. Kovács, T. Tatár-Kis, B. Felföldi); Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest (S. Marton, B. Forró, M. Domán, K. Bányai)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

During 2014–2017, we isolated a novel orthobunyavirus from broiler chickens with severe kidney lesions in the state of Kedah, Malaysia; we named the virus Kedah fatal kidney syndrome virus (KFKSV). Affected chickens became listless and diarrheic before dying suddenly. Necropsies detected pale and swollen kidneys with signs of gout, enlarged and fragile livers, and pale hearts. Experimental infection of broiler chickens with KFKSV reproduced the disease and pathologic conditions observed in the field, fulfilling the Koch’s postulates. Gene sequencing indicated high nucleotide identities between KFKSV isolates (99%) and moderate nucleotide identities with the orthobunyavirus Umbre virus in the large (78%), medium (77%), and small (86%) genomic segments. KFKSV may be pathogenic for other host species, including humans.

In recent years, numerous arboviruses have reportedly caused major outbreaks among domestic or wild birds (1,2). Most arboviruses associated with widespread epizootics are members of the Flaviviridae family, although the poultry industry has been affected by other arboviruses (3–5). The order Bunyaviralescomprises at least 9 families and 13 genera. Of the major genera, only viruses of the Orthobunyavirus, Orthohantavirus, Orthonairovirus, and Phlebovirus genera infect vertebrates (6–8). Orthobunyavirus is the most diverse genus within the Bunyavirales order, comprising ≈170 viruses classified into >18 serogroups on the basis of antigenic relationships; this serology correlates well with the phylogenetic analyses (9). For birds, particularly domestic poultry, descriptions of natural infections with orthobunyaviruses are scarce (10,11). Hubalek et al., in a recent comprehensive review on arboviruses, listed only a few orthobunyaviruses pathogenic to domestic poultry, most likely reflecting a minor role of orthobunyaviruses in poultry diseases (5).

Since 2014, sporadic cases of a new disease in broiler chickens, manifested as clinical signs of lethargy accompanied by some gastrointestinal symptoms and sudden death from severe kidney damage, have been reported in northwestern Malaysia. We identified and characterized the etiologic agent of this disease.