Li Jinyao, Zhang Yuan, Liu Jingyu, Xu Shixuan, Gao Xueyan, Li Xinru, Zhao Qin, Zhou En-Min, Chen Yiyang, Liu Baoyuan
Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
General Station of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Technology Promotion, Naqu, Tibet, China.
BMC Vet Res. 2025 Feb 19;21(1):79. doi: 10.1186/s12917-025-04531-3.
Avian hepatitis E virus (HEV) has caused economic losses in the poultry industry and has shown a broad spectrum of infections. In 2022, a quail farm (YangLing, China) exhibited a decrease in egg production, an increase in mortality and hepatosplenomegaly. These characteristics were similar to those of avian HEV infection. To determine whether avian HEV existed on this farm and further clarify the pathogenicity caused by avian HEV under experimental conditions, the livers and spleens were collected from the diseased quails in the field for gross lesion observation and avian HEV detection; then, the pathogenicity was characterized.
In the field, the results showed enlargement of the liver and spleen and hemorrhage spots on the liver, and the amplified fragment (330-bp length) of HEV shared 100% identity with the Chinese avian HEV strain. The pathogenicity of this virus in quail was characterized by decreased egg production, seroconversion, viremia, fecal virus shedding, liver lesions and HEV antigen in the liver under experimental conditions. These differences indicated that there may be other pathogens or factors causing this disease together on the quail farm in addition to avian HEV, and further detection should be performed.
Overall, this is the first study to detect HEV RNA in quails, and an avian HEV strain can successfully infect quails under experimental conditions.
禽戊型肝炎病毒（HEV）已给家禽业造成经济损失，并呈现出广泛的感染情况。2022年，中国杨凌的一个鹌鹑养殖场出现产蛋量下降、死亡率上升和肝脾肿大的情况。这些特征与禽HEV感染的特征相似。为确定该养殖场是否存在禽HEV，并在实验条件下进一步阐明禽HEV所导致的致病性，从该养殖场患病鹌鹑中采集肝脏和脾脏进行大体病变观察及禽HEV检测；随后对致病性进行了表征。
在养殖场中，结果显示肝脏和脾脏肿大，肝脏上有出血点，且HEV的扩增片段（长度为330bp）与中国禽HEV毒株的序列一致性为100%。该病毒在鹌鹑中的致病性表现为实验条件下产蛋量下降、血清转化、病毒血症、粪便病毒排出、肝脏病变以及肝脏中存在HEV抗原。这些差异表明，除禽HEV外，该鹌鹑养殖场可能还存在其他病原体或因素共同导致这种疾病，应进一步进行检测。
总体而言，这是首次在鹌鹑中检测到HEV RNA的研究，并且一株禽HEV毒株在实验条件下能够成功感染鹌鹑。
