Detection and characterization of chicken anemia virus in Colombia

Objective. identify the presence of chicken anemia virus (CAV) in poultry farms and backyard chickens from Antioquia, Colombia. Materials and Methods. Blood and feather samples were taken from laying chickens; in each farm, three birds of six different ages (1, 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 days old) were chosen randomly. Backyard chicken samples were also obtained near the research farms. We used serology and molecular techniques to analyze the samples. Results. By PCR, the 84% of the birds were positive in whole blood and 66% were positive in feather samples. The 60% of backyard chickens tested were positive in blood and 40% in feather follicle. By serology, the 22% of the poultry farm birds presented high antibody titers and 19% moderate antibody titers. In the backyard chickens, 43% of them presented high antibody titers and 29% moderate antibody titers. In addition, results from the RFLP test and sequencing showed that the circulating virus found in this study was different from the Cux-1 vaccine strain used in Colombia. Conclusions. CAV is present in Colombia in both commercial and backyard chickens. According to the findings, a high percentage of the birds tested positive for viral detection, whereas the number of birds that tested positive for antibodies was low. Thus, the characteristics of the circulating virus need to be determined to explain the antibody response observed in this study.