Isolation of fowl adenoviruses serotype 4 from pigeons with hepatic necrosis.

Nine homogenized livers were taken to isolate the causative agent of adenovirus type I and type II infections in pigeons. The samples were passaged up to four times on primary chicken embryo hepatocytes. Adenoviruses were isolated from all of the six type II but none of the three type I infections. Serologically the isolated adenoviruses were classified as fowl adenovirus (FAV) serotype 4. Restriction enzyme analysis of two isolates in comparison with FAV4 reference strain KR5 confirmed the serological results and classification of the pigeon isolates as FAV4 strains.