Virological and pathological studies on avian encephalomyelitis among young chicks at El-Qassiem Area, Saudi Arabia

A history of nervous disturbances and moralities [25%] among young chickens 10-21 day of age as well as a temporary drop in egg production and hatchability [10%] in parent flock occurred in a large poultry farm at EL-Qassiem area, kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Detection, isolation and identification of avian encephalomyelitis [AE] virus was done using embryonated chicken eggs, immunoflourscence [IF] and Immunodiffusion [ID] tests. Serological investigations were carried out on infected sera from both parent flocks and broiler chicks using Enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay [ELISA]. Histopathological studies were carried out on samples from naturally infected chick brains as well as brains from inoculated hatched chicks