CONGENITAL TRANSMISSION OF AVIAN-LEUKOSIS VIRUS IN THE ABSENCE OF DETECTABLE SHEDDING OF GROUP-SPECIFIC ANTIGEN

Congenital transmission of avian leukosis virus (ALV) in the absence of detectable amounts of group specific (gs) antigen in egg albumen was found to occur in one commercial and one specific pathogen-free (SPF) flock. The prevalence of congenitally transmitting hens which did not excrete gs antigen was particularly high in a commercial flock where 26/27 hens transmitted ALV. Some of the ALV-transmitting hens in the commercial flock had virus in vaginal swabs thus enabling infection to be detected. The reasons for such a high proportion of congenitally transmitting hens which did not shed detectable amounts of gs antigen in the commercial flock was not determined. In the SPF flock, 2/15 hens congenitally transmitted ALV although virus could not be detected in vaginal swabs, whole blood or egg albumen and antibodies to subgroups A or B were not present. This form of ALV-infection persisted in two successive generations. These results indicate the necessity of testing for infectious ALV in embryos, in order to ascertain that a flock is genuinely free of ALV.