An outbreak of duck virus enteritis (duck plague) in Alberta.

Duck plague (Duck virus enteritis) was disgnosed in a resident population of Muscovy ducks (Cairina moschata) on a small game farm in Alberta. This disease has not been reported previously in Canada. Clinical signs consisted of cyanosis, depression and acute death. Necropsy of two Muscovy ducks revealed lesions typical of the disease. There were ulcerations with pseudomembranes in the small intestine, ulcerations with caseous plaques in the esophagus and eosinophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies in the spleen. Clinical disease with mortality was reproduced in young ducklings injected with tissue homogenates from field cases. All surviving inoculated ducklings seroconverted to highly significant titres of neutralizing antibodies to duck virus enteritis (DVE) virus. All attempts to isolate the agent in embryonating duck eggs or primary tissues cultures of duck and chicken kidney were negative. Identification of the DVE virus was accomplished by serum neutralization with ducklings as the host system.