Evidence of Muscovy duck parvovirus in Muscovy ducklings in California

Muscovy duck parvovirus (MDPV) has been demonstrated in tissue samples from one- to four-week-old commercially reared Muscovy ducks that were weak, un able to walk and had a high mortality rate. On postmortem examination, the thigh and leg muscles, and the myocardium were found to be pale, and there was a fibrinous exudate on the capsule of the liver, and ascites. The parvo virus was isolated in embryonated Muscovy duck eggs and visualised by negat ive stain electron microscopy, detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) directly from the tissues, and antibodies to it were defected by immunoelec tron microscopy, ELISA and immunofluorescence. In addition, the PCR product s obtained that represented 1625 bp (74 per cent) of the capsid VP1 gene, i ncluding a hypervariable region between Derzsy's disease virus or goose par vovirus and MDPV, were sequenced and shown to be 100 per cent homologous wi th the MDPV 89384 reference strain, but only 82.3 per cent homologous with Derzsy's disease virus.