Immunosuppressive effects of a Korean isolate of reticuloendotheliosis virus

국내 분리 세망내피증 바이러스의 면역억제능

Humoral and cellular immune responses are depressed in chickens infected with reticuloendotheliosis virus(REV). The extent of depression is influenced by the age of infection and strain of virus. This study was conducted for investigation of immunosuppressive effects of a Korean isolate of REV. Chickens infected with REV-HI, a Korean isolate, at 1 day old were severely suppressed in the vaccinal immunity against Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis and infectious bursal disease. But these immunosuppressive effects were not observed in chickens infected with the virus at 2 weeks of age, or contact infected by growing in-contact with inoculated chickens from one day old. The clinical signs following infectious laryngotracheitis(ILT) vaccination in chickens infected with REV-HI at 1 day old were more severe than those of uninfected chickens, and some of REV-infected chickens(21.4%) were died after the vaccination. Mortality following virulent ILT virus infection was increased in REV-HI infected chickens. Effects of REV infection at one day old to susceptibilities to subsequent Chicken anemia agent (CAA) infection were also studied. Chickens were infected with REV-HI at 1 day old and subsequently inoculated CAA at 1, 7, 14 and 28 days old, respectively. Mortalities of the chickens infected with REV-HI and subsequent CAA infection were 100, 100, 40 and 0%, respectively, whereas 23, 8, 0 and 0% of chickens infected with only CAA were died, respectively. These above all results suggest that a Korean isolate of REV may be highly immunosuppressive.