Sustainable smallholder poultry interventions to promote food security and social, agricultural, and ecological resilience in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia.

In Zambia's Luangwa Valley, highly variable rainfall and lack of education, agricultural inputs, and market access constrain agricultural productivity, trapping smallholder farmers in chronic poverty and food insecurity. Human and animal disease (e.g.

Molecular characterization of a poxvirus isolated from an American flamingo (Phoeniconais ruber rubber).

An avian poxvirus from the beak scab of an American flamingo (Phoeniconais ruber rubber) was isolated by inoculation on the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chicken embryos. The virus produced multifocal areas of epithelial hyperplasia along with foci of inflammation in the CAM, and rare cells contained small eosinophilic intracytoplasmic bodies. Chickens inoculated with the isolated virus in the feather follicle of the leg did not develop significant lesions.

Sarcomas and myelocytomas induced by a retrovirus related to myeloblastosis-associated virus type 1 in White Leghorn egg layer chickens.

An outbreak of subcutaneous sarcomas in commercial White Leghorn egg layers was observed in the northeastern United States during late 2004. Subcutaneous tumors were confined to three flocks distributed in two locations and belonging to the same company. The tumors were first observed grossly by farm personnel at approximately 7 wk of age and persisted throughout the economic life of the flocks.

Isolation and characterization of a novel antigenic subtype of infectious bronchitis virus serotype DE072.

Three infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) isolates, CU82792, CU82805, and CU82808, were recovered from sentinel chickens placed with three different layer flocks of a large commercial poultry farm in New York State. The three isolates were classified as members of the DE072 serotype on the basis of 1) their S1 genes could be amplified with only a modified primer designed for the DE072 serotype and 2) their restriction fragment length polymorphism patterns, after digestion with endonucleases HaeIII, BstyI and XcmI, were indistinguishable from that of DE072 virus. Additional characterization of one of the isolates, CU82805, revealed that its S1 gene bears approximately 96% identity at the nucleotide level and 94% identity at the amino acid level with DE072.

Comparative susceptibility of Marek's disease cell lines to chicken infectious anemia virus.

Chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV) is known to infect and replicate in various Marek's disease chicken cell lines (MDCCs) derived from Marek's disease (MD) tumors. One line, MDCC-MSB1, has been the substrate used in most studies. We compared a total of 26 MDCCs, including two sublines of MDCC-MSB1, MSB1 (L) and MSB1 (S), four other MD tumor-derived lines, and 20 lines derived from MD virus-induced local lesions, for susceptibility to the Cux-1 and CIA-1 strains of CIAV.