Bacterial and viral agents associated with tenosynovitis in broiler breeders in Western Australia

Several outbreaks of clinical tenosynovitis in poultry were investigated. Staphylococcus aureus was recovered from tendon tissue of from 52.98% of affected chickens in different outbreaks. It was also present in the liver and heart blood, and seemed to contribute to the high mortality observed following occurrence of clinical tenosynovitis in individual chickens. Other bacteria were recovered less often. Adenoviruses and reoviruses were also recovered from tendon tissue of chickens with a concurrent bacterial infection. Although the pathology observed in clinically affected chickens suggested a bacterial aetiology, it seemed that the outbreaks were due to an early reovirus infection which normally remained subclinical, and that secondary infection with bacteria, particularly S. aureus, was responsible for the development of clinical signs..