FIG 5.

Horizontal transmission of vRB1B, vΔUL47, and vΔUL48. (A) Five noninfected chickens per group were housed together with the inoculated chickens at the time of viral inoculation (D0). The percentages of surviving animals are shown for vRB1B (WT, red line), ΔUL47, and ΔUL48 animals (purple line). (B) The PBMCs of surviving ΔUL48-inoculated animals, as well as of all contact animals, were analyzed by PCR for the presence of the viral genome at 44 days postinoculation. Actin was used as a loading control. (C) The amount of viral genomes was determined by qPCR from DNA extracted from the dust accumulated during 1 week (between 21 and 28 dpi) and collected from the three different isolators.