Abstract

Inclusion body hepatitis is caused by an infection with fowl adenovirus and is documented all over the globe. The current research aimed to first isolate fowl adenovirus in embryonated chicken eggs by allantoic sac inoculation and then use PCR to identify the virus. Seventy-five samples suspected to be infected with fowl adenovirus were collected from various locations around Iraq, including Diyala, Tikrit, and Karbala. The age of the hens in which infection was detected varied from 25 to 45 days. For two passages, prepared samples (0.1ml) from infected livers were injected into embryonated chicken eggs (nine days old). The pathological alterations were not observable at the time of the first injection; nevertheless, the second passage revealed congestion, subcutaneous tissue haemorrhage, and embryo's death. After collecting the allantoic fluid from the two passages in the biohazard safety equipment, viral nucleic acid (DNA) was isolated. It was followed by viral detection using conventional PCR by amplification of the Loop1 gene, which yielded a positive result for the presence of fowl adenovirus. The results show that chicken embryos are sensitive methods for detecting fowl adenovirus and molecular instruments like PCR offer higher accuracy and sensitivity.

Key words: Embryonated chicken embryos, Fowl adenovirus, Inclusion body hepatitis, L1 gene, polymerase chain reaction,.