EXPERIMENTAL INFECTIONS OF BIRDS WITH TURLOCK VIRUS

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted with 5 gallinaceous and 1 passerine bird species to determine their responses to Turlock (TUR) virus inoculations. Inoculation of TUR strain 847-32 into bobwhites, chukars, ring-necked pheasants, chickens and Japanese quail did not produce detectable viremias. The first 4 spp. did respond with neutralizing antibody. Inoculation of chickens with strain 69V-1095 resulted in a viremia which lasted 5 days and had a peak mean titer of 2.0 log10 [plaque-forming unit]per0.2 ml of blood on the 3rd day after infection. The observation that viremic birds exhibited no noticeable virus-associated morbidity or mortality suggested that TUR virus does not have a detrimental effect on free-ranging populations of the avian hosts studied.