Turkey coronavirus (TCV) is a recurrent enteric disease of turkeys in North Carolina characterized by diarrhea, depression, weight loss and increased mortality. This study demonstrated the potential of the house fly to harbor and act as a mechanical vector of TCV. House flies were allowed to feed on liquid medium containing TCV. Crops, mid- and hindgut tissues were dissected from the flies at intervals of 0.5, 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 hours post-feeding. Turkey embryos were then inoculated with homogenized crops from the infected flies. TCV was detected in house fly crops up to 9 hours post-feeding. No TCV was detected in tissues from house fly mid- or hindguts. The potential of the house fly to directly transmit TCV to live turkey poults was demonstrated by exposing 7 day-old poults to TCV infected house flies at densities of 15, 150 and 1500 flies per treatment. Serology results of poults exposed to fly densities of 150 and 1500 were 75-100% and 87-100%, respectively.
Species 1: Diptera Muscidae Musca domestica (House Fly)
Keywords: Turkey Coronavirus, vector
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