Reticuloendotheliosis (RE) designates a group of pathologic syndromes caused by the reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) group of avian retroviruses. The disease syndromes associated with REV include 1) a runting disease syndrome, 2) chronic neoplasia of lymphoid and other tissues, and 3) acute reticulum cell neoplasia.
Scientific Significance
Reticuloendotheliosis virus represents a third distinct etiological group of avian viral neoplasms, after
Marek's disease
Marek's disease is a highly contagious viral neoplastic disease in chickens. It is named after József Marek, a Hungarian veterinarian who described it in 1907. Marek's disease is caused by an alphaherpesvirus known as "Marek's disease virus" ( ...
and
avian leukosis virus
Avian sarcoma leukosis virus (ASLV) is an endogenous retrovirus that infects and can lead to cancer in chickens; experimentally it can infect other species of birds and mammals. ASLV replicates in chicken embryo fibroblasts, the cells that contr ...
. The various syndromes caused by REV resemble both Marek's and avian leukosis. It is especially seen in
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
s,
quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy.
Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New Wor ...
,
geese
A goose (plural, : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family (biology), family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser (bird), Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some o ...
,
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...
s, and
turkeys
The turkey is a large bird in the genus ''Meleagris'', native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') of eastern and central North America and the ocellated turkey (''Meleagris ocellat ...
.
The virus presents some unusual characteristics, such as a similarity to mammalian retroviruses and its presence in the genome of some large DNA viruses. To explain them a theory based on iatrogenic origin was proposed.
Resources
The Avian Diagnostic and Oncology Laboratory, in East Lansing, MI is the primary laboratory for research in REV and other tumor viruses.
The American Association of Avian Pathologists maintains a fact sheet on viral tumor diseases.
References
Viral diseases
Poultry diseases
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