Characterization of a highly virulent Avibacterium paragallinarum isolate.

Infectious coryza (IC) is an important respiratory infectious disease in chickens. In this study, an Avibacterium paragallinarum Page serovar C strain, named ZJ-C, was isolated from a local layer flock that was routinely vaccinated with an inactivated trivalent vaccine, using reference strain Modesto as the serovar C immunogen. The pathogenicity, immunogenicity, and genetic characteristics of ZJ-C were studied. The minimum pathogenic dose of the isolate was 100 CFU, which was 1/1,000 of the dose of the serovar C reference strain Modesto. The vaccination-challenge trial in specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens showed that the ZJ-C bacterin could provide 100% protection against challenge from both ZJ-C and Modesto strains, whereas Modesto provided 100% protection against challenge from itself, but only 70% protection against ZJ-C. Sequence analysis of the HMTp210 hypervariable region (region 2) showed that the homology of region 2 between ZJ-C and Modesto was 96.14%, whereas the homology between ZJ-C and the Kume serovar C-4 reference strain HP60 was 99.83%. Phylogenetic analysis of region 2 showed that ZJ-C was most closely related to cluster C-4, represented by HP60. The experimental data obtained in this study will help the selection of optimal vaccine strains and assist serotyping studies of Av. paragallinarum. Vaccination with inactivated multivalent vaccines is a primary strategy to control Infectious coryza. Avibacterium paragallinarum serotyping is important for effective protection as inactivated whole-cell vaccines provide protection against only the serogroup or serovar from which the vaccine was derived. In this study, a novel serovar within the serogroup C Avibacterium paragallinarum isolate ZJ-C has been characterized first time in China. It was highly virulent and induced 100% cross-protection to Modesto bacterin vaccinated chickens, but not the other way around.

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