Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Apr 1;17(4):519.
doi: 10.3390/v17040519.

Diagnostic Findings of Transmissible Viral Proventriculitis Associated with Chicken Proventricular Necrosis Virus in Processed Broiler Chickens in Argentina

Carlos Daniel Gornatti-Churria  1 , Natàlia Majó  2   3 , Melissa Macías-Rioseco  4 , Rosa M Valle  2 , Patricio A García  5   6 , Carmen F Jerry  7
Affiliations

Diagnostic Findings of Transmissible Viral Proventriculitis Associated with Chicken Proventricular Necrosis Virus in Processed Broiler Chickens in Argentina

Carlos Daniel Gornatti-Churria et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Transmissible viral proventriculitis (TVP) and chicken proventricular necrosis virus (CPNV) affect the broiler industry globally and are emerging diseases of economic importance. Here, we present the findings of TVP from processed broiler carcasses in Argentina following marked condemnation at the processing plant. We studied a total of 122 abnormally presenting proventriculi at processing from 42-to-50-day-old, male Cobb500™ broiler chicken carcasses from 11 farms belonging to the same company in 13 episodes of proventriculi-gizzards condemnation between December 2021 and April 2022. The proventriculi were enlarged and pale with a widened gastric isthmus. A histopathologic lesion score system was developed based on the presence of a combination of key microscopic findings, the distribution, and the severity of the lesions. Scoring of the affected proventriculi revealed 65% (79/122) with a score of 4, 23% (28/122) with a score of 3, and 12% (15/122) with a score of 2. Focal to multifocal immunoreactivity against the VP2-CPNV antigen within the necrotic glandular epithelial cells was noted in the affected proventriculi using immunohistochemistry. We found 84.4% (103/122) of the studied proventriculi with TVP lesions grossly and microscopically scored were positive for CPNV by RT-PCR. The sequencing results of the PCR product showed a high nucleotide sequence similarity (88.97%) to previously published VP1-CPNV sequences. We confirmed CPNV infection in most of the TVP affected proventriculi in all condemnation episodes at a broiler chicken processing plant in Argentina during the studied period. This study documents TVP associated with CPNV detection at processing plants in Argentina for the first time.

Keywords: RT-PCR; broiler chicken carcasses; chicken proventricular necrosis virus (CPNV); gastric isthmus; processing plant; proventriculus enlargement; transmissible viral proventriculitis (TVP).

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Patricio A. García was employed by are employed by the company Bonnin Hnos. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Proventriculi and ventriculi from 42-day-old, male Cobb500™ broiler chicken carcasses. (A) Numerous, severely enlarged and pale proventriculi with widened gastric isthmus from one of the condemnation episodes at a commercial broiler chicken processing plant in Argentina. (B) Opened proventriculus from the condemnation episode of Subfigure (A) showing an enlarged size and marked gastric isthmus (asterisk).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Proventriculus from a 50-day-old, male Cobb500™ broiler chicken carcass. Severe multifocal interstitial lymphocytic inflammatory cell infiltration of the submucosa, and glandular hyperplasia/metaplasia. H&E, objective 10×.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Percentage grossly affected proventriculi scored based on compatible microscopic lesions of CPNV infection diagnosed in 42-to-50-day-old male Cobb500™ broiler chicken carcasses at a processing plant in Argentina.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Proventriculus from a 47-day-old, male Cobb500™ broiler chicken carcass. Diffuse immunoreactivity within numerous necrotic epithelial glandular cells. Immunohistochemistry, diaminobenzidine counterstain. Objective 20×.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Scored proventriculi with microscopic lesions of CPNV infection and positive results for CPNV RT-PCR diagnosed in 42-to-50-day-old male Cobb500™ broiler chicken carcasses at a processing plant in Argentina. Note the 15.6% (19/122) scored proventriculi had a negative result for CPNV RT-PCR.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Guy J.S. Transmissible viral proventriculitis. In: Williams S.M., Dufour-Zavala L., Jackwood M.W., Lee M.D., Lupiani D., Reed W.M., Spackman E., Woolcock P.R., editors. A Laboratory Manual for the Isolation, Identification and Characterization of Avian Pathogens. 6th ed. American Association of Avian Pathologists; Jacksonville, FL, USA: 2016. pp. 299–301.
    1. Hafner S., Guy J.S. Proventriculitis and proventricular dilatation of broiler chickens. In: Swayne D.E., Glisson J.R., McDougald L.R., Nolan L.K., Suarez D.L., Nair V., editors. Diseases of Poultry. 13th ed. Wiley-Blackwell; Ames, IA, USA: 2013. pp. 1328–1332.
    1. Merard D.E., Zeghdoudi M., Madi S., Bouzid R., Aoun L. Pathological, epidemiological features, and statistical study of histopathological changes in chicken transmissible viral proventriculitis. Vet. Mex. 2024;11 doi: 10.22201/fmvz.24486760e.2024.1284. - DOI
    1. Leão P.A., Amaral C.I., Santos W.H.M., Moreira M.V.L., de Oliveira L.B., Costa E.A., Resende M., Wenceslau R., Ecco R. Retrospective and prospective studies of transmissible viral proventriculitis in broiler chickens in Brazil. J. Vet. Diagn. Investig. 2021;33:605–610. doi: 10.1177/10406387211004106. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yan T., Li G., Zhou D., Yang X., Hu L., Cheng Z. Novel cyclovirus identified in broiler chickens with transmissible viral proventriculitis in China. Front. Vet. Sci. 2020;7:569098. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2020.569098. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources