Reovirus-induced tenosynovitis: persistence of homologous challenge virus in broiler chicks after vaccination of parents.

Broiler chicks from a parent flock previously vaccinated with a commercial tenosynovitis (viral arthritis) vaccine were challenged when one day old with a virulent form of the vaccinal reovirus strain. A group from unvaccinated parents was similarly challenged. At three weeks after infection it was found that, while maternal antibody reduced the incidence of lesions of tenosynovitis by about 50 per cent and also the amount of virus in the gut when compared with the group without maternal antibody, the rates of recovery of virus from the hock joints were very similar. The possible epidemiological importance of persistent virus in the joints of clinically protected chicks is discussed.