A Case Report of Outbreak Avian Pox Virus from Layer Chickens and a Pigeon in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

In recent years, some outbreaks of skin lesions suspected to be avian pox were observed in a farms layer
chicken in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. This article reports a confirmed case of avian pox virus from three-layer
chickens and a pigeon kept in same farm area. Both chickens and pigeon showed nodular lesions on unfeather head
skin and fibro-necrotic lesions on the mucus membrane of the oral cavity. Avian pox virus was propagated from
nodular and fibro-necrotic lesions by inoculation into the chorioallantoic membranes (CAM) of 10-days-old specificpathogen-free chicken embryos for 5-7 days. The CAM was examined to observe the pock lesions. The tissue samples
from nodular lesions were stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin stain for histopathological analysis. For PCR, after DNA
extraction, a 578-bp fragment of avian pox virus from 4b core protein gene was amplified. The data were analyzed
descriptively. Both chickens and pigeon samples were positive for avian pox virus on propagation, histopathological, and PCR examination, respectively. The conclusion of this report there is potential transmission of avian poxvirus between chickens and pigeon, so other birds should not be kept inside the farm.