Epidemiological observations on some natural outbreaks of inclusion body hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (IBH-HPS) in domestic chicken

Fowl adenoviruses (FAdVs) are economically significant pathogens of domestic poultry. Fowl adenoviruses are associated with many disease conditions in domestic fowl such as IBH, IBH-HPS, Egg drop syndrome, Quail bronchitis, and gizzard erosions etc. The present study deals with epidemiological investigation of forty natural outbreaks of IBH/IBH-HPS in broiler farms of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand during 2011-2016. Involvement of fowl adenovirus was suspected on the basis of post mortem lesions, which was confirmed by AGID, histopathology, virus isolation and hexon gene (L1 loop) PCR. Disease was mainly present in 3 to 6 week age broiler birds; however, birds less than 3 weeks of age were also affected.