Isolation and characterization of an astrovirus causing fatal visceral gout in domestic goslings

Zhang, Qingshui; Cao, Yanxin; Wang, Jun; Fu, Guanghua; Sun, Mengxu; Zhang, Lijiao; Meng, Li; Cui, Guolin; Huang, Yu; Hu, Xueying; Su, Jingliang

Several studies have reported the existence of AstV in goose flocks 18, 19 , but the prevalence and pathogenicity of AstV among domestic geese remains poorly understood due to the lack of efficient in vitro culture techniques and diagnostic assays. In this study, AAstV SD01 was AstV infection occurred within the first days or week of life usually resulted in a worse outcome, as the agedependent pathogenicity of AAstV has been reported 10 . In this study, the mortality of young goslings caused by subcutaneous or oral inoculation indicated that AAstV SD01 was highly pathogenic. The experiment was fairly a represent of the situation in the field, where susceptible goslings are exposed to AstV soon after they are placed in contaminated houses. Apart from mortality, avian AstV infection can decrease feed intake and alter feed conversion efficiency, leading to growth repression. The decrease in body weight of infected goslings is a major concern as a 29% lighter body weight at 14 dpi has a considerable economic impact.