Susceptibility of turkeys to Georgia strain of Marek's disease virus of chicken origin.

Two experiments were conducted to study the susceptibility of turkeys to Georgia strain of Marek's disease virus (MDV). One-day-old chickens and turkeys were experimentally inoculated with Marek's disease (MD) infective plasma (experiment 1) or tumor homogenate (experiment 2) and raised in isolation for 29 weeks. The MDV inoculums were pathogenic for chickens and turkeys and caused high mortality (chickens, 100% and turkeys, 70%). Macroscopic lesions of MD were observed in liver, spleen, lungs, proventriculus, and other viscereal organs. Microscopically, affected tissues were infiltrated with the pleomorphic population of neoplastic lymphocytes. Uninoculated turkeys did not show gross or microscopic lesion of MD. The MDV was reisolated from the experimentally inoculated, but not from the uninoculated, chickens and turkeys. Antibodies to MDV were detected in experimentally infected chickens. Uninoculated chickens and all turkeys lacked precipitating antibodies to MDV. The present study suggests that turkeys are highly susceptible to experimental infection with GA strain of MDV.