Experimental infection of chickens with hemorrhagic enteritis virus.

Chickens were experimentally infected with hemorrhagic enteritis virus, causing lesions similar to those observed in turkeys. Lesions were induced by intraperitoneal and oral infection. Virus particles with the morphology of adenovirus were demonstrated in the spleens of infected chickens. Splenic extracts from infected chickens caused lesions of hemorrhagic enteritis in turkeys. Recovery from the infection in chickens was followed by the production of antibodies to HEV, demonstrated by agar-gel precipitin test.