Experimental studies on turkey coryza

Disease with severe respiratory symptoms, nasal discharge, swelling of sinuses, conjunctivitis with foamy discharge and mortality has been observed in turkey flocks in Israel. Of the pathogenic agents isolated from field cases, three, Paramyxovirus, yucaipa (yucaipa virus), Alcaligenes faecalis (A. faecalis) and Mycoplasma gallisepticum (Mg) were used to infect turkey poults, singly or in combination, in our attempt to reproduce the field disease symptoms. Yucaipa virus alone caused mild symptoms of respiratory disease. Alcaligenes faecalis alone caused moderately severe symptoms while the strain of Mg used caused mortality. Yucaipa virus or A. faecalis in combination with Mg caused the greatest mortality in intact poults. Bursectomy at 1-day-old exacerbated the severity of all disease conditions.