Avian Diseases, Pt. 2 Flashcards
What causes Marek’s disease? What species are most affected?
avian alphaherpesvirus, Gallid herpesvirus type 2 (dsDNA)
chickens
- quails, turkeys, pheasants, jungle fowl
How is Marek’s disease transmitted? What kind of disease is it?
highly infectious, particularly in young chicks through feather dust, where it can remain infectious for years (inhaled)
lymphoproliferative and neoplastic - first neoplastic disease for which a vaccine was developed
What are the 3 serovars of Marek’s disease virus?
1 = oncogenic
2 = chickens
3 = turkeys
(other oncogenic virus = avian leukosis virus, a retrovirus)
What are the 4 phases of Marek’s disease?
- early cell-to-cell infection
- latent infection
- feather follicle shedding
- proliferative (lymphoma) phase
What happens during phase 1 of Marek’s disease?
- inhalation or ingestion of infected feather dander
- infection of respiratory epithelium and macrophages
- viremia
- infection of T and B cells in thymus, bursa, spleen, and BM, causing immunosuppression
What happens during phase 2 of Marek’s disease?
- replication in T cells (CD4+), less so in B cells and CD8+ cells
- no obvious clinical signs
(latent infection)
What happens during phase 3 of Marek’s disease?
- lymphocytes carry virus to feather follicles
- virus replicates in epithelial cells
- virus shed in feather dander
- lymphocytes also carry virus to visceral epithelium and nervous system
- mononuclear inflammation
What happens during phase 4 of Marek’s disease?
- some CD4+ T cells undergo neoplastic transformation
- lymphomas develop
- tumors are a mixture of neoplastic T cells and reactive B cells and macrophages
What is characteristic of classical Marek’s disease? In what 3 ways does this affect the bird?
neurolymphomatosis = paralysis
- leg/wing paralysis (sciatic/brachial nerves)
- torticollis (cervical nerves)
- dilation of crop and respiratory signs (vagus/intercostal nerves)
What are the 3 other presentations of Marek’s disease other than classical?
- VISCERAL (ACUTE) - lymphomatous proliferation (tumors) in viscera and skin
- OCULAR LYMPHOMATOSIS - lymphocyte infiltration of iris with loss of pigmentation (grey eye)
- CUTANEOUS - enlarged feather follicles/nodules, erythematous legs (Alabama redleg)
Classical Marek’s disease:
paralysis - sciatic nerve
Classical Marek’s disease:
left sciatic nerve thick due to lymphocyte inflammation
Visceral (acute) Marek’s disease:
nodular lymphoblastic lesions
Ocular Marek’s disease:
grey eye - lymphocyte infiltration of iris
Ocular Marek’s disease:
grey eye, constricts pupil due to inflammation
Cutaneous Marek’s disease:
Alabama redleg - erythematous legs
Cutaneous Marek’s disease:
enlarged feather follicles/nodules
What are the 2 main histopathological presentations of classical Marek’s disease?
- PNS = proliferative/inflammatory with demyelination, causing paralysis; chronic without paralysis
- CNS = inflammatory lesions with perivascular cuffing, microgliosis, and endotheliosis
What is the histopathological presentation of visceral (acute) Marek’s disease?
lymphoid tumors with a mixture of pleomorphic lymphocytes including malignant T cells, reactive B cells, other T cells, and macrophages
What is the histopathological presentation of ocular lymphomatosis due to Marek’s disease?
lymphocyte infiltration of the iris
What are the 3 histopathological presentations of cutaneous Marek’s disease?
- dermatitis with lymphocytes and/or lymphomatous proliferations
- lymphomatous lesions around feather follicles and blood vessels
- IN inclusions in feather follicle epithelium
Classical Marek’s disease, histopathology:
PNS = inflammation
Cutaneous Marek’s disease, histopathology:
perivascular lymphomatous lesion