Epidemiologia di Metapneumovirus aviare nel pollo da carne in Italia

The poultry production sector is tightly centred in Northern Italy, where chickens, turkey and other minor species are reared closely. Among the several well-know and managed respiratory issues, avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV) is growing as a concern also in chicken production, especially in broiler farming. Consistent data on its prevalence are lacking, so aMPV detections were summarized from longitudinal studies and diagnostic one-off samplings from Northern Italy from 2014 to 2016. The results demonstrated the wide circulation of aMPV subtype B and its presence in subsequent cycles in the same farm. aMPV sequences from chickens and turkeys showed high homology from the comparison, excluding a host-based strain sepa- ration. A eld vaccination trail was also performed in two aMPV positive farms to verify the bene ts of a subtype B-based vaccine administration in broilers, which appeared to fully control the clinical signs even if the persistence of a eld strain was revealed in one of the farms.