Serological Studies on Chicken Infectious Anemia Virus In Sharkia Governorate

CIAV is an economically important pathogen, which has been shown to have a worldwide distribution. CIAV causes clinical and subclinical disease in chickens, bothof them cause severe economic losses. Therefore, this study was conducted tof investigate the seroprevalence of CIAV antibodies among broiler and breeder flocks in Sharkia governorate using different serological techniques.In the present study, a total of 450 serum samples were collected from 30broiler and breeder chicken flocks, which ranged in age from 1 day to 90 weeks, at10 different localities of Sharkia governorate. Screening of the collected 450 serumsamples for the presence of CIAV-specific antibodies was done using ELlSA. ELlSA results showed that none of the 30 tested flocks in this study was freeof antibodies to CIAV. CIAV-specific antibodies were detected in 224 out of the 300tested broiler serum samples (74.6 %) and in 101 out of the 150 tested breederserum samples (67.3 %).Because none of the birds was vaccinated against CIAV,the detected antibodies were the result of field infection or maternal transfer.The overall findings of the present serological investigation provided evidenceof the widespread distribution of this virus and of a high incidence of CIAV infectionamong both broiler and breeder flocks of different local and foreign breeds atdifferent ages and localities of Sharkia governorate.On the basis of these findings, it can be assumed that the lower productivityand inadequate response to vaccination observed frequently in various broiler farmsall around Sharkia governorate are related to CIAV infection.CIAV constitutes a serious economic threat for the Egyptian poultry industry. The detection of high CIAV infection rates among chicken flocks in Sharkia