• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Locations:
  • Canyon
  • Center
  • College Station
  • Gonzales
  • TVMDL Career Center
  • Contact Us

Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory

Apple App

download on the Apple App Store
download the app on Google Play

Search

Translate:

  • Find a Form
  • Deliver a Sample
    • Specimen Collection Information
    • Packaging Samples for Shipment
    • Drop Off a Sample
    • Cremation
    • Order Supplies
  • Client Portal
    • Get Test Results
    • SVA Portal
    • Pay a Bill
  • Become a Client
  • Resources
    • TVMDL Bovine Testing Guidance and Reference Material
    • Diagnostic Plans
      • Bovine Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
      • Equine Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
      • Small Ruminant Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
      • Small Animal Syndromic Diagnostic Plans
    • Education Library
    • Case Study Library
    • Electronic Reporting: QR Coding Process
    • CoreOne Resources
  • About Us
    • Locations and Hours
    • Agency Leadership
    • Speaker’s Bureau
    • Texas Pullorum-Typhoid Program
    • TVMDL Mobile app
    • Contact Us
  • Locations
    • College Station Laboratory
    • Canyon Laboratory
    • Center Laboratory
    • Gonzales Laboratory
  • Contact Us

Viral arthritis in broiler chickens

July 6, 2020 by Mallory Pfeifer

Viral arthritis in broiler chickens
Gabriel Senties-Cue, MVZ, EPAA, MS

 Ten live 20-day-old, meat type chickens were submitted to the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory’s (TVMDL) Center laboratory with a clinical history of leg problems and swollen tendons.

At necropsy examination the birds exhibited outwardly deviated legs, moderately swollen hocks with an accumulation of a tannish, turbid exudate, and swollen gastrocnemius tendons.

Serology for reovirus was positive in all the birds by the ELISA test. The histopathological examination revealed tenosynovitis and epicarditis with lymphoid aggregate formation, lesions consistently found in systemic reovirus infections. Reovirus was isolated from the affected tendons.

Some strains of reovirus can cause viral arthritis. These strains are transmitted both vertically and horizontally in poultry. Viral arthritis may cause rupture of the gastrocnemius tendons in heavy birds. Viral arthritis in broilers can be prevented by maternal immunity.

To learn more about this case, contact Dr. Senties-Cue, Center resident director. For more information about TVMDL’s testing options, visit tvmdl.tamu.edu or call 1.888.646.5623.

Figure 1. Peritendinous hematoma due to rupture of the gastrocnemius tendon caused by viral arthritis.

Filed Under: Case Study Tagged With: Avian, center, chicken, histopathology, pathology, poultry, TVMDL

Primary Sidebar

Latest Case Studies

  • Neurologic Disease due to Bovine Herpesvirus-5 (BHV-5) Infection in a 3-week-old Charolais mix calf

    February 27, 2023

  • Rare case of ocular onchocerciasis in a dog from south Texas

    January 25, 2023

  • Cerebrospinal Nematodiasis (Visceral Larval Migrans) in Birds

    September 13, 2022

  • Spironucleosis (Hexamitiasis) in Quail

    August 9, 2022

  • Endocarditis in a White-Tailed Deer Caused by Trueperella pyogenes

    August 9, 2022

Footer

For Employees

  • Employee Email
  • TVMDL Rules & Procedures
  • TVMDL Career Center
  • Emergency Alert Systems
  • AgriLife People Directory
  • AgriLife Administrative Services
  • TAMUS Single Sign On
  • Facebook

State of Texas

  • Texas.gov Portal
  • Texas Veterans Portal
  • Statewide Search
  • Texas Homeland Security
  • Risk, Fraud, & Misconduct Hotline

Policies

  • Privacy and Security Policy
  • Accessibility Policy
  • Texas A&M AgriLife
  • Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostics Laboratory
  • Texas A&M Forest Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Research

483 Agronomy Rd
College Station, TX 77843