Table 1.

List of diagnostic methods and sample selection for the most important – notifiable viral diseases of poultry

Methods of diagnosis for viral-origin poultry and avian diseases
Infectious agent	Samples of choice	Serological techniques – Immune status	Etiological diagnosis – Antigen detection
Avian influenza virus	•Live birds: oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs and serum •Dead birds: feces, trachea, lung, air sacs, intestines, spleen, kidney, brain, liver, and heart	•AGID •HA test and HI test •ELISA	•Virus isolation in SPF embryonated chicken eggs •AC-ELISA •Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry •RT-PCR and rRT-PCR techniques
Newcastle virus	•Live birds: oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs and serum •Dead birds: oronasal swabs, lung, kidneys, intestines, cecal tonsils, spleen, brain, liver, and heart	•HA test and HI test •ELISA	•Virus isolation in SPF embryonated fowl eggs •RT-PCR and rRT-PCR techniques
Infectious bronchitis virus	•Live birds: oropharyngeal swabs and serum •Dead birds: oropharyngeal swabs, trachea, lung, kidneys, and oviduct	•HA test and HI test •AGID •VN •ELISA	•Virus isolation SPF embryonated chicken eggs •TOC •Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry •RT-PCR •RT-PCR-RFLP
Infectious Laryngotracheitis virus	•Live birds: tracheal, oropharyngeal or conjunctival swabs, and serum •Dead birds: tracheal samples and mucosal scrapings	•AGID •ELISA	•Virus isolation in SPF embryonated chicken eggs or cell cultures. •Immunofluorescence •Histopathology (Cowdry type A inclusions) •PCR and PCR-RFLP
Poxvirus	•Cutaneous tissue samples or smears of the diphtheritic lesions and serum	•Passive HA test •AGID •VN •ELISA	•Smears stained with Giménez method. •Virus isolation in SPF embryonated chicken eggs or cell cultures. •Histopathology (intracytoplasmatic inclusions – Bollinger bodies), Immunofluorescence and immunoperoxidase •PCR-RFLP •Immunoblotting or Western Blotting
Infectious bursal disease	•Live birds: serum •Dead birds: bursa of Fabricius tissue samples	•AGID •VN •ELISA	•Virus isolation in specific antibody-negative chicken embryos or cell cultures Immunofluorescence •AC-ELISA •RT-PCR and RT-PCR-RFLP
Marek's disease	•Blood samples (Buffy coat cells), lymphoma and spleen tissue samples, and feather	•AGID •ELISA	•Virus isolation in cell cultures. •PCR •Real time quantitative-PCR

Abbreviations: AGID, agar gel immunodiffusion; HA, hemagglutination; HI, hemagglutination inhibition; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; SPF, specific pathogen free; AC, antigen capture; RT-PCR, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; rRT-PCR, real time RT-PCR technique; VN, virus neutralization; TOC, tracheal organ culture; and RT-PCR-RFLP, RT-PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism.

Source: OIE, 2013a. Manual of diagnostic tests and vaccines for terrestrial animals: Avian influenza. In: Terrestrial Manual. International Standard Setting, seventh ed. World Organization for Animal Health, pp. 436–454 (Chapter 2.3.4) and OIE, 2013b. Chapter 2.3.4. Avian influenza. In: I. S. S. T. Manual (Ed.), World Organisation for Animal Health. Paris, France: World Organisation for Animal Health, Section 2.3 (Chapters: 2.3.1., 2.3.2., 2.3.3., 2.3.4., 2.3.5., 2.3.6., 2.3.9., 2.3.10., 2.3.11., 2.3.12., 2.3.13., 2.3.14).