Comparative response of turkeys and chickens to avian lymphoid leukosis virus.

Response of turkeys and 151(5)x7(1) chickens to prenatal or neonatal inoculation with the avian leukosis virus RAV-1 was compared. Virus-inoculated turkeys and chickens developed viraemia and antibody to. RAV-1. Many of the chickens remained persistently viraemic through the duration of the experiment, whereas in turkeys viraemia was transient. Circulating antibodies were detected earlier in turkeys than in chickens. Inoculation of turkeys with RAV-1 resulted in a high incidence of inflammatory and lymphoproliferative, but non-neoplastic, lesions in various visceral organs, including spleen, pancreas, heart, bursa and thymus, 3 to 5 weeks after virus inoculation. The lesions in chickens were those typical after RAV-1 infection, i.e. neoplastic, and appeared after a latent period of 9 weeks.