Occurrence of atypical fowlpox in poultry farms in Kenya.

Atypical fowlpox occurred in several poultry farms in Kenya. On two occasions layers had their eyes closed and egg production dropped. Fowlpox virus was isolated from lesions on the inner surfaces of the closed eyelids. Other chickens had lesions covered by yellow caseous necrotic material in the mouth, around the epiglottis, and in the trachea and choanae. Typical proliferative cutaneous lesions were observed in birds of all ages in other flocks examined. Fowlpox virus was recovered from both cutaneous and diphtheritic lesions. The infected chorioallantoic membranes had focal hyperplastic lesions containing pink-staining intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies in most cells. Transmission studies showed that the virus was highly virulent to susceptible chickens.