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. 2021 Jan;22(1):e1.
doi: 10.4142/jvs.2021.22.e1.

Correlation between goose circovirus and goose parvovirus with gosling feather loss disease and goose broke feather disease in southern Taiwan

Chiu Huang Ting  1 , Chia Ying Lin  2 , Yang Chieh Huang  1 , Shyh Shyan Liu  1 , Shao Yu Peng  3 , Chen Wei Wang  1 , Hung Yi Wu  4
Affiliations

Correlation between goose circovirus and goose parvovirus with gosling feather loss disease and goose broke feather disease in southern Taiwan

Chiu Huang Ting et al. J Vet Sci. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Goslings in several Taiwanese farms experienced gosling feather loss disease (GFL) at 21-35 days and goose broke feather disease (GBF) at 42-60 days. The prevalence ranges from a few birds to 500 cases per field. It is estimated that about 12,000 geese have been infected, the morbidity is 70-80% and the mortality is 20-30%.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the pathogens that cause GFL and GBF. Focus on the study of the correlation between goose circovirus (GoCV) and goose parvovirus (GPV) with the goose feather loss in southern Taiwan. Furthermore, a phylogenetic tree was established to align the differences between southern and northern Taiwan and compare with virus strains from China and Europe.

Methods: Samples were collected from animal hospitals. Molecular and microscopy diagnostics were used to examine 92 geese. Specific quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) assays are performed to evaluate GPV and GoCV viral loads and simultaneously evaluated the feather loss conditions in geese with the scoring method.

Results: High prevalence of GoCV and GPV infection in geese showing signs of GFL and GBF. Inclusion body was detected in the feather follicles and Lieberkühn crypt epithelial cells. The Q-PCR showed the high correlation between feather loss and viruses during 3rd-5th week. However, the infection was not detected using the same test in 60 healthy geese.

Conclusions: Thus, GFL and GBF appear to be significantly closely related to GoCV and GPV. The geese feathers showed increasing recovery after being quarantined and disinfected.

Keywords: Circovirus; Taiwan; goose disease; parvovirus; polymerase chain reaction.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Gross and histopathological lesions were observed in tissues of geese infected with various pathogens. Stained haematoxylin and eosin. (A) Feather loss. (B) Broken feather. (C) Inclusion body (arrow), feather follicle, 100× (bar = 20 μm). (D) Folliculitis (arrow), feather follicle, 400×. (E) Degeneration and necrosis of epithelial cells (arrow) on the mucous membrane and the crypts of Lieberkühn (bar = 100 μm). (F) Intranuclear inclusion bodies (arrow) in the degenerated epithelial cells of the crypts of Lieberkühn (bar = 20 μm).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. The phylogenetic tree of goose circovirus.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. The phylogenetic tree of goose parvovirus.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4. The results of blood GPV and GoCV quantification and feather loss evaluation of sick goose. (A) The change curve of virus quantity. (B) The change of the feathers of the goose.
GPV, goose parvovirus; GoCV, goose circovirus.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5. Feather recovery. (A) Feather recovery from gradual decrease in the number of GPV and GoCV of birds with GFL. (B). Feather recovery from GoCV and GPV of birds with GBF.
GPV, goose parvovirus; GoCV, goose circovirus; GFL, gosling feather loss disease; GBF, goose broken feather disease.
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