duck virus hepatitis

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Identity

Preferred Scientific Name

• duck virus hepatitis

International Common Names

• English: duck hepatitis

English acronym

• DH
• DVH

Pathogen/s

Overview

Duck hepatitis (DH) or duck viral hepatitis (DVH) is a highly fatal viral infection of ducklings, characterized by rapid onset of high mortality, opisthotonos and hepatitis. The potential for high mortality if not properly controlled makes DH an economically important disease in all duck-growing areas.

Duck hepatitis is caused by at least three different viruses, previously referred to as types I, II and III (Tseng and Tsai, 2007; Wang et al., 2008). Genome sequencing studies have revealed a great deal about them (Kim et al., 2006, 2007a; Tseng et al., 2007; Fu et al., 2009; Todd et al., 2009; Yun et al., 2010; Wei et al., 2012), including that type III is not a picornavirus, as once thought, but an astrovirus, now called duck astrovirus-2 (DAstV-2; Todd et al., 2009). Type II is also an astrovirus (subsequently renamed as duck astrovirus 1 (DAstV-1; Todd et al., 2009), and type I is a picornavirus. DHV I, the most common of the three viruses, with international distribution, is now known as duck hepatitis A virus (DHAV) in the new genus Avihepatovirus.

Duck viral hepatitis should not be confused with duck hepatitis B infection caused by a member of the hepadnavirus group (hepatitis B viruses) that are also found in wild and domestic ducks.

Please see the AHPC library for further information on this disease from OIE, including the International Animal Health Code and the Manual of Standards for Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines. Also see the website: www.oie.int

Host Animals

Systems Affected

Distribution

Duck hepatitis A virus (DHAV) was first described in young White Pekin Ducks on Long Island, New York (Levine and Hofstad, 1945; Levine and Fabricant, 1950). Since then, DHAV has been reported in duck-raising areas worldwide (Woolcock, 2008), and most recently in China (Guo and Pan, 1984) and Korea (Park, 1985; Woo et al., 2000).

DHV type II (DAstV-1) was originally reported in Norfolk, England (Asplin, 1965). A duck astrovirus with very high sequence similarity to DAstV-1 (Todd et al., 2009) has been detected and sequenced in China (Fu et al., 2009), associated with very high mortality in 1- to 2-week-old commercial ducklings.

DHV type III (DAstV-2) is only known to have occurred in the USA.

For current information on disease incidence, see OIE's WAHID Interface.

Distribution Table

The distribution in this summary table is based on all the information available. When several references are cited, they may give conflicting information on the status. Further details may be available for individual references in the Distribution Table Details section which can be selected by going to Generate Report.

Pathology

Gross lesions are predominately found in the liver, which is enlarged and displays distinct punctuate or ecchymotic haemorrhages. Spleen enlargement and swelling of the kidneys, with congestion of renal blood vessels is also observed. Occasionally, small haemorrhages are seen in the intestinal wall, and on the heart fat with DAstV-1 infection. Gross pathological changes with DAstV-2 are similar to those caused by DHAV.

Histopathological changes in DHAV infection consist of necrosis of hepatic cells and varying degrees of inflammatory cell infiltration. In survivors, more chronic lesions showed regeneration of liver parenchyma and widespread bile duct hyperplasia. All microscopic changes associated with DHAV infections were analyzed in experimentally induced DHAV infection (Fabricant et al., 1957). Peng showed by electron microscopy that DHAV invades many tissues in the duckling, and causes swelling, haemorrhage and necrosis of the liver, spleen, kidneys, and pancreas. Pathological changes are also seen in the central nervous system and the bursa of Fabricii in infected ducklings (Peng, 1998). Lesions are similar with DAstV-1 and DAstV-2 infection.

Diagnosis

DHV type I (DHAV)

The clinical and pathological observations are highly indicative of a DHAV infection. Preparing 20% (w/v) liver homogenate suspensions, from birds that are thought to have had the infection, in buffered saline and inoculating the allantoic sac of 8- to 10-day-old chicken embryos can isolate the virus. Infected embryos will die within 5 to 8 days post infection and exhibit gross lesions, including dwarfing, enlarged greenish livers with necrotic foci, and cutaneous haemorrhage and oedema. Embryo mortality and lesions will occur sooner after inoculation, in 10- to 14-day-old duck embryos from susceptible breeder ducks. The presence of DHAV can be confirmed by one of more of the following tests: 

1. Subcutaneous or intramuscular inoculation of the isolate into 1- to 7-day-old susceptible ducklings results in death 18 to 48 hours post-infection. Gross lesions should be consistent with DHAV infection and the virus should be re-isolated from the livers.
2. Inoculation of serial dilutions of the liver homogenate into the allantoic sac of duck or chicken eggs and observation of clinical changes as described above.
3. Inoculation of liver homogenate suspensions into primary cultures of duck embryo liver cells. DHAV will cause a cytopathic effect (CPE) in the cells. Recently, an attenuated strain of DHAV was reported to replicate in chicken embryo fibroblasts (Zhang et al., 2000). A duck embryo fibroblast cell line has been developed, in which DHAV replicates with cytopathic effect (Fu et al., 2012).
4. An accurate diagnosis of DHAV can be made using direct immunofluorescence on livers from naturally occurring infections or inoculated duck embryos (Maiboroda, 1972; Vertinskii et al., 1968).
5. An ELISA for antibodies to DHAV has been developed using virus protein 1 (VP1) produced in bacteria as antigen (Liu et al., 2010).
6. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test have been developed for DHAV (Kim et al., 2007b, 2008; Cheng et al., 2009) and reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification tests (Song et al., 2012; Yang et al., 2012).

DHV type II (DAstV-1)

The virus may be recovered in a 20% (w/v) homogenized liver suspension and can be used to inoculate susceptible ducklings, and embryonated chicken eggs. An outbreak of DAstV-1 in China in 2008 killed approximately 50% of 1- to 2-week-old commercial ducklings (Fu et al., 2009). As sequence data is now available for DAstV-1, RT-PCRs can be used to detect the virus (Todd et al., 2009; Fu et al., 2009).

Gross lesions will be similar to field cases. Chicken eggs can also be inoculated, either by the amniotic cavity or the yolk sac. This results in very little mortality and stunted green necrotic livers are the only observable pathology. There are no cell culture systems for DAstV-1.

DHV type III (DAstV-2)

The virus can be recovered from homogenized liver suspensions and isolated by duckling inoculation, or inoculation onto the chorioallantoic membrane of 10-day-old embryonated duck eggs. There will be some embryo mortality 7 to 10 days post-inoculation, and the membrane will appear dry and crusty. DAstV-2 is less virulent than DHAV.

Serologic tests

Serologic tests have not been useful because of the acute nature of the clinical disease. However, various virus neutralization (VN) assays have been described that are useful for virus identification, titration of serologic response to vaccination, and epidemiologic surveys. The VN tests may achieve greater significance if DAstV-1 and DAstV-2 become more widespread. The VN tests described include a DHAV neutralization test in chicken embryos (Hwang, 1969), an agar gel diffusion precipitin (AGDP) test for identification of type I (Murty and Hanson, 1961) and a plaque-reduction test for VN antibodies (Woolcock et al., 1982). A duck embryo fibroblast cell line has been developed, in which DHAV replicates with cytopathic effect (Fu et al., 2012).

Differential Diagnosis

Although the sudden onset, rapid spread, and acute course of the disease are characteristic of DHAV, the virus must be isolated or demonstrated by RT-PCR to confirm DHAV infection. Other potential causes of acute mortality in ducklings include salmonella and aflatoxin. Neither of these causes the liver lesions characteristic of DHAV infection, but will produce rapid onset mortality and ataxia, convulsions, and opisthotonos in the case of aflatoxicosis.

List of Symptoms/Signs

Disease Course

DHAV causes a highly contagious, often-fatal infection of ducklings, especially in those under 6 weeks of age. The onset and spread of DHAV is very rapid and is initially characterized by lethargy and ataxia. Within a short time, ducklings stop moving and squat with their eyes partially closed, this is followed by loss of balance, spasmodic kicking of both legs and death. At death, the head is usually drawn back in the opisthotonos position. Death occurs very rapidly, often within 1 to 2 hours after the onset of clinical signs. Morbidity is 100% and mortality is variable depending on the age at infection. DAstV-1 and DAstV-2 cause similar clinical signs and disease course as DHAV. An outbreak of DAstV-1 in China in 2008 killed approximately 50% of 1- to 2-week-old commercial ducklings (Fu et al., 2009).

Epidemiology

DHV type I (DHAV)

In naturally occurring outbreaks, DHAV occurs only in young ducks. Experimentally, infection of goslings, mallard ducklings, turkey poults, quail, young pheasants, geese and guinea fowl with DHAV have been reported (Hwang, 1974; Woolcock, 2008). DHAV will rapidly spread to all susceptible ducklings in a flock. Recovered ducks may excrete the virus in their faeces, and the virus remains viable in the faeces for many weeks. It is probable that infection follows the ingestion by susceptible ducklings of virus-carrying particles from the environment. Variants of DHAV have been described in South Korea (Kim et al., 2007a, 2008). There is no evidence of egg transmission. There are reports suggesting that wild birds (Asplin, 1961) or brown rats (Demakov et al., 1975) may serve as mechanical vectors or host reservoirs for DHAV.

DHV type II (DAstV-1)

Only ducks appear to be affected by DAstV-1. The earliest described outbreaks occurred in ducks kept on open fields in eastern England, initially reported in 1965 and up to 1969, then again in 1983/84, which were the last reported outbreaks in England. However, the role of wildfowl, wild birds, and wildlife reservoirs or vectors is unknown (Gough, 1986; Woolcock. 2008). In 2008 there was a severe outbreak of duck hepatitis in China. Virus present in liver extracts had very high amino acid sequence identity (Fu et al., 2009) to the DAstV-1 sequenced by Todd et al. (2009) and very different to DAstV-2 (Todd et al., 2009).

DHV type III (DAstV-2)

There is little known about the epidemiology of DAstV-2, which has only been described in the USA (Woolcock, 2008).

Impact: Economic

Duck hepatitis is recognized as an economically important disease in all duck-growing areas because of the potential for high mortality if not controlled.

Zoonoses and Food Safety

There is no known zoonotic threat of duck hepatitis virus.

Prevention and Control

Husbandry Methods and Good Practice

DHAV can be prevented by strict isolation during the first 4 to 5 weeks of life. In areas where the disease is prevalent, achieving the necessary degree of isolation may be very difficult and vaccination may be required.

Immunization and Vaccines

DHV type I (DHAV)

Resistance against DHAV in ducklings can be achieved through three methods:

1. Injection of immune serum or yolk from eggs produced by hyperimmune breeder ducks, or yolk from eggs produced by specific-pathogen-free-chickens hyperimmunized with DHAV.


2. Immunization of breeder stocks with a live-attenuated-virus-vaccine. The vaccine is produced in embryonated chicken eggs to ensure high levels of passively transferred antibodies in ducklings. Alternatively, breeder ducks can also be vaccinated with an inactivated vaccine if they have already been primed with, or exposed to, live DHAV.


3. Direct immunization of ducklings with live avirulent strains of DHAV by foot web-stab, intramuscular, intranasal or subcutaneous injection. DHAV-1 vaccines may not be fully effective against type 2 and 3 types of DHAV. Kim et al. (2009) have produced an attenuated DHAV-3 vaccine using a strain that had been circulating in South Korea and China.

DHV type II (DAstV-1)

A live virus, DAstV-1 vaccine, protected ducklings under experimental conditions but has never been used commercially.

DHV type III (DAstV-2)

Experimentally, an attenuated live-virus vaccine given to breeder ducks confers immunity to hatchling ducklings. Also convalescent sera obtained from DAstV-2-infected ducks effectively controlled outbreaks in the field.

National and International Control Policy

Duck Hepatitis is defined as a List B disease by the Office des International Epizooties. As defined by the OIE the incubation period for DVH is seven days. The Veterinary Administrations of importing countries should require the presentation of an international veterinary certificate attesting that:

• The ducks showed no clinical signs of DVH on the day of shipment


• The ducks come from establishments that are free from DVH


• That the ducks are either vaccinated or not vaccinated against DVH.

There are further requirements for the importation of day-old ducks and duck embryonated eggs.

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Distribution Maps