Clinicopathological characterization and genomic sequence differences observed in a highly virulent fowl Aviadenovirus serotype 4

Highly virulent fowl aviadenoviruses (genus: Aviadenovirus) represent a significant risk in poultry farming that may contribute to increased mortality rates and may adversely affect the growth performance of poultry flocks. In this study, we performed the clinicopathological characterization of a FAdV strain SHP95 isolated from a commercial farm and its whole genome sequencing. The study revealed that the isolated strain is a highly virulent serotype 4 FAdV that can cause 100% mortality in day-old specific pathogen free (SPF) chickens with a dose of 2.5 × 10⁵ TCID₅₀. At a lower viral dose (1.5 × 10⁴ TCID₅₀), the infection in day-old SPF chickens caused 40% mortality and lesions characteristic for Hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (HHS). The viral strain was detectable by real time PCR in chicken organs, including the lymphoid organs until day 28 after infection. The whole genome assembly of strain SHP95 revealed a size of 45,641 bp, which encodes for 42 viral open reading frame (ORF). The comparative analysis in the genome shows 98.1% similarity between strain SHP95 and other FAdV-4 genomes reported. The major differences in the genome sequence between pathogenic and non-pathogenic fowl Adenovirus were identified in the right arm of the genome.