Gordon Lisa, Leacy Alexander, Pham Phuc H, Tuling Jaime, Che Sunoh, El-Khoury Antonius, Caswell Jeff L, Lillie Brandon N, Susta Leonardo
University of Guelph, Pathobiology, Guelph, ON, Canada.
University of Maryland, Animal and Avian Sciences, College Park, MD, USA.
Npj Viruses. 2025 Feb 24;3(1):14. doi: 10.1038/s44298-025-00095-z.
Aquatic bird bornavirus 1 (ABBV1), an orthobornavirus in the family Bornaviridae, displays a broad host range among avian species, including poultry. The pathogenesis of orthobornaviruses, at least in mammals and psittacines, appears to be mediated by the host immune response against the infected nervous tissue, with younger animals showing a milder disease due to immune tolerance. Here, we tested the ability of ABBV1 to infect domestic turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo), with a focus on evaluating the impact of age at infection. Cohorts of 6-week-old (old) and day-old (young) male turkeys were divided into virus-inoculated and control groups, and kept for up to 12 weeks. Results showed that turkeys of both ages were susceptible to ABBV1 infection by intramuscular administration, following a centripetal and limited centrifugal spread, although infection appeared delayed in old compared to young birds. Notably, only young turkeys developed clinical signs and more frequent inflammation of the central nervous system, indicating that infection at a very early age is unlikely to induce tolerance to ABBV1 infection.
水鸟博尔纳病毒1型（ABBV1）是博尔纳病毒科的一种正博尔纳病毒，在包括家禽在内的鸟类物种中具有广泛的宿主范围。至少在哺乳动物和鹦鹉中，正博尔纳病毒的发病机制似乎是由宿主针对受感染神经组织的免疫反应介导的，年幼动物由于免疫耐受而表现出较轻的疾病。在此，我们测试了ABBV1感染家火鸡（Meleagris gallopavo）的能力，重点评估感染时年龄的影响。将6周龄（大龄）和1日龄（幼龄）雄性火鸡分成病毒接种组和对照组，并饲养长达12周。结果显示，两个年龄段的火鸡通过肌肉注射均易受ABBV1感染，病毒呈向心性传播且离心性传播有限，不过大龄火鸡的感染似乎比幼龄火鸡延迟。值得注意的是，只有幼龄火鸡出现临床症状且中枢神经系统炎症更频繁，这表明在极幼龄时感染不太可能诱导对ABBV1感染的耐受性。
