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A highly pathogenic Marek’s disease virus isolate from chickens immunized with a bivalent vaccine in China

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Abstract

Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is an important oncogenic poultry pathogen that can generally be controlled by vaccination. However, MDV infections still occur occasionally on vaccinated farms, possibly due to genetic variation among MDV strains or management-related issues. In this study, a novel MDV strain, designated LZ1309, was isolated from a poultry flock that had been vaccinated with the HVT and CVI988 vaccine strains. Animal experiments showed that LZ1309 infection led to high morbidity (100%) and mortality (90%). Moreover, existing vaccines provided only partial protection against LZ1309, with protection rates of 68.4%, 85%, and 90% for HVT, CVI988, and HVT plus CVI988, respectively. This study demonstrates the presence of a more virulent strain of MDV in vaccinated chickens in China that poses a new potential threat to poultry farms. In future studies, the development of new treatment strategies should be of high priority.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Educational Department of Jiangxi Province (Grant no. GJJ190568).

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Author notes

  1. Huimin Li and Zengxu Ge contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical College, Jinggangshan University, Ji’an, 343009, Jiangxi, China

    Huimin Li, Zengxu Ge & Qiang Fu

  2. College of Veterinary Medicine, South China Agricultural University, 483 Wushan Street, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, 510642, Guangdong, China

    Qiong Luo & Ruiai Chen

  3. Zhaoqing Institute of Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Zhaoqing, China

    Qiong Luo & Ruiai Chen

Authors
  1. Huimin Li
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  2. Zengxu Ge
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HL and ZG contributed equally to this work. All authors reviewed and improved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ruiai Chen.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Li, H., Ge, Z., Luo, Q. et al. A highly pathogenic Marek’s disease virus isolate from chickens immunized with a bivalent vaccine in China. Arch Virol 167, 861–870 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-021-05355-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-021-05355-w

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