Fowlpox Virus

Overview of Fowlpox

Fowlpox has been reported worldwide as a mild to severe poultry disease, which is caused by viruses of the Poxviridae family and the genus avipoxvirus. There are other nine well-known species in the poxviridae family, including: canarypox virus, juncopox virus, mynahpox virus, psittacinepox virus, sparrowpox virus, starlingpox virus, pigeonpox virus, turkeypox virus, and quailpox virus.

Fowlpox disease is caused by fowlpox virus (FWPV) and is mainly found in two forms, cutaneous and diphtheria. The cutaneous form is usually mild, but the diphtheria form causes more deaths than the cutaneous form, usually by asphyxiation.

Hot Topcis of Fowlpox Virus

With increasing interest in the use of recombinant fowlpox viruses as vectors to immunise against heterologous pathogens, in ovo delivery has been investigated. Commercial recombinant fowlpox virus vectored vaccines are now available. Many other recombinants are being, or have been, developed.

• FWPV, a dsDNA virus infects poultry species. With the appearance of recombinant DNA techniques, FPV was widely used in the construction of recombinant vaccine vectors against other poultry diseases. Eventually, recombinant FPV (rFPV) was trialled as a vaccine delivery vector for various human infectious diseases, most notably HIV and cancer.
• The same as other avipoxviruses, such as canarypox virus, fowlpox virus enters mammalian cells and expresses proteins, but not reproduce.
• The large DNA virus is resistant, it can survive in the dried scabs environment for extended periods. Actually, photolyase and A-type inclusion body protein in the genome of fowlpox virus appear to protect the virus from environmental damage.

Visual Examples of Fowlpox Virus

Clinical signs and postmortem changes

Regarding clinical signs in chickens, pox lesions were observed on legs, wings, combs, wattles, and heads, especially around the eyes, and some chickens had complete eye involvement, resulting in permanent eye loss.

Figure 1. Fowlpox Virus (FPV) lesions in a chicken. (Biology, 2020)

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Reference

1. Mosad S M, El-Tholoth M, El-Kenawy A A, et al. Molecular detection of reticuloendotheliosis virus 5′ long terminal repeat integration in the genome of avipoxvirus field strains from different avian species in Egypt[J]. Biology, 2020, 9(9): 257.