Avian Bornavirus Infection in Waterfowl
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Avian Bornavirus Infection in Waterfowl by Pauline G. Delnatte A Thesis presented to The University of Guelph In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Science in Pathobiology Guelph, Ontario, Canada ©Pauline G. Delnatte, August, 2013 ii ABSTRACT AVIAN BORNAVIRUS INFECTION IN WATERFOWL Pauline G. Delnatte Advisor: University of Guelph, 2013 Dr. Dale A. Smith Avian bornavirus (ABV) is a newly recognized cause of neurological disease and mortality in free-ranging geese and swans in Ontario. To determine the correlation between clinical signs, pathological lesions and presence of ABV in tissues of wild waterfowl, 955 pathology cases from Canada geese (Branta canadensis), trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator) and mute swans (Cygnus olor) were reviewed, and 51 cases selected based on the presence of pathology or clinical history suggestive of ABV infection. The presence of virus in brains, assessed by immunohistochemistry and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was highly correlated with the presence of non-suppurative inflammation in the central, peripheral and autonomic nervous systems. Partial sequencing of the ABV-nucleocapsid gene from infected geese indicated a unique waterfowl genotype. To estimate the prevalence of ABV infection in southern Ontario, cloacal swabs and blood samples were collected from 624 asymptomatic free-ranging waterfowl and evaluated using RT-PCR and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. Thirteen percent of Canada geese caught on the Toronto Zoo site shed ABV in urofeces iii compared to none of the geese sampled at three other locations. The prevalences of ABV shedding in mute swans, trumpeter swans and mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) were 9.3%, 0% and 0%, respectively. Serum antibodies were present, often at high prevalence, in birds from all four species and at each sampling site. To investigate the possibility of vertical transmission of ABV in wild Canada geese, 53 eggs were collected from an infected flock. ABV was detected in the yolk of one infertile egg. To determine whether poultry species were susceptible to infection with the waterfowl strain of ABV, domestic ducks, chickens and geese were inoculated with brain homogenate from ABV-infected Canada geese. ABV was not detected using immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR in any inoculated or control bird at 45 or 90 days post inoculation. No histological lesions consistent with ABV infection were found in any ducks and chickens; however, non-suppurative inflammation was present in nervous tissues of 5/13 inoculated geese, 5/13 control geese, and 3/8 geese euthanized prior to inoculation, suggesting the presence of a pre-existing, non-ABV neurotropic virus. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank, most sincerely, my advisor Dale Smith for her support and mentorship throughout this program, and for offering me this project in the first place. Thank you so much for your patience, your generosity and your dedication. Thanks for always taking the time to go over any “problem”, whether it was looking at slides at the last minute or helping me to complete a tax return… I could not wish for a better advisor. I am also extremely grateful to the other members of my advisory committee, Éva Nagy, Davor Ojkic, Josepha DeLay and Simon Hollamby, for their invaluable insights in this research, their enthusiasm and for always having their doors open for me. It has been a pleasure working with you. I would like to thank all the pathologists of the department that have taught me the basics of pathology at the beginning of this program. Thanks also to Doug Campbell, Marina Brash and Claire Jardine for their contributions and for being happy to answer any of my questions. Special thanks go to Ian Barker. Ian, I feel extremely lucky to have made my first steps in wildlife pathology with you. I greatfully acknowledge Ian Tizard and Susan Payne of the Schubot Exotic Bird Health Centre (Texas A&M University) for their help and collaboration. This work would have not been completed without the help of many other dedicated people. I have been impressed by the expertise and kindness of so many of you: - I am indebted to David Leishman who ran an impressive number of ELISAs in a very timely manner. Thanks also to Betty-Anne McBey who provided essential technical assistance in the early stage of the ELISA design and for the sample collection of the experimental birds. - I am very appreciative of the staff at the Animal Health Laboratory, especially Susan Lapos, Ana Rita Rebelo, Sarah Hoyland, Jane Coventry and Elizabeth Hillyer, for their immense help with this project. v - I am grateful to Lenny Shirose, Carol Lee Ernst and Dave Cristo (CCWHC) for making graphs, findings slides and reports, and sorting out samples for me and always smiling. - I would like to thank the Ontario Trumpeter Swan Re-introduction Program (Harry Lumsden, Bev and Ray Kingdon, Julie Kee and Kyna Intini), the Canadian Wildlife Service (James Vanos [CWS London & Guelph] and Christopher Sharp [CWS Ottawa]), the Ministry of Natural Resources (Rob Brook [MNR Peterborough]), the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (Danny Moro) and the Golf Glen Veterinary Clinic (Aurora, Ontario) for their assistance in collecting and processing samples for the prevalence part of this study. Field work has always been wonderful and I am very glad I had the chance to meet each of you. - Thanks to the Animal Care staff of the OMAFRA Animal Isolation Facility for the daily care of my experimental birds and for having coped so well with the unexpected! - Thanks to all the previous Toronto Zoo residents for their goose and swan histology reports that were critical for the retrospective part of this study. Special thanks go to Maya Kummrow and Charlene Berkvens for their key contribution early in this project. - Thanks to all students that helped me immensely in this project, particularly Monika Janssen, Veronica Kay, Elizabeth Beck, Nicole Zaranek, Matthew Mak and Kyle Elias. - I gratefully acknowledge Amy Kistler and Joseph deRisi (University of California - San Francisco) for providing the rabbit polyclonal antiserum used for the IHC; Susan Payne (Texas A&M) for providing the antigen used for the ELISA; and Pierre Yves Daoust for providing the samples from CCWHC - Atlantic Region used in the retrospective part of this study. - Thanks to the Toronto Zoological Foundation, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA), the CCWHC-Ontario, the OVC Pet Trust, the Animal Health Laboratory and the Schubot Exotic Bird Health Centre for their vi generous financial help for this project. The stipend of my DVSc degree was provided by the Toronto Zoological Foundation. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the other people who supported me during this program and made these three years truly fantastic. I would like to dedicate this work to the staff of the Wildlife Health Center of the Toronto Zoo. This residency would have been completely different without Graham Crawshaw and Chris Dutton. Thanks for trusting me, supporting me and teaching me so many things. You will always be the ones who made me the zoo veterinarian I am today… and it means a lot to me. Graham, your passion for zoo and wild animals is beautiful to watch and inspirational. Your dedication and professionalism will always be a role model. I guess I will have to agree with this little kid… “You rock Dr Graham!”. Chris, I’m not sure that I can thank you enough for all these unforgettable days spent together, whether we were driving around the zoo or spotlighting ferrets. I loved every single one and I miss them already. You are a brilliant veterinarian, a wonderful teacher and an incredible person. You have been my day-to-day support for these last three years. Thanks for everything… A very special thank-you goes to Tasha Long, Michelle Lovering and Dawn Mihailovic for being the best technicians in the world! Thanks so much for your constant support, your kindness and your friendship. Thanks for always being so knowledgeable and resourceful. I wish I could “steal” you for wherever I’m going to work in the future! I am still amazed every day by the expertise and dedication of the keepers in this beautiful zoo. I would especially like to thank all of the Health Center keepers, in particular Charles Guthrie, Andrew Lentini, Lydia Attard, Mark Bongelli, Margaret Kolakowski, Paula Roberts and Andrea Dada (the budgie keeper!). Thanks for making this hospital such a great place to work. I will miss you deeply. Thanks to all the other vii keepers, curators and staff from the nutrition and reproduction departments. I learnt so much from all of you. It was an honour to be part of your team. And thanks to Iga Stasiak, Adriana Nielsen and Mélanie Ammersbach for all the fun we shared at the zoo or at Guelph. I am also very grateful to Stéphane Lair, Guy Fitzgerald and Marion Desmarchelier for affording me the incredible opportunity to partake in this residency three years ago. I obviously cannot forget my family and friends from France and elsewhere who have loved and supported me from a distance. It has always been such a good feeling to hear your voices on the phone or to see you very occasionally and realize that nothing had changed! A special thank to Yann for being the best best-friend one can hope for. I would like to deeply thank my wonderful parents and brothers for their unconditional love. I know you think I am too far away, but I’m happy and it is worth it. I will always love you. Pauline Delnatte, Toronto, August 2013 viii DECLARATION OF WORK PERFORMED I declare that, with the exception of the technical analyses listed below, all the work reported in this thesis was performed by me.