Infectious bronchitis of chickens: current knowledge, strains and vaccines in Brazil/Bronquite infecciosa das galinhas: conhecimentos atuais, cepas e vacinas no Brasil

Infectious bronchitis (IB) is an acute, highly contagious disease of chickens, caused by infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), which results in great economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide, despite the routine use of vaccines. Several outbreaks do occur periodically in densely populated poultry regions in Brazil and there are constant emergence of new variants. The aim of this paper is to review the current knowledge about IBV and IB, the distribution, strains and vaccines in Brazil. Key words: infectious bronchitis, chicken, IBV, virus, coronavirus, fowl. A bronquite infecciosa das galinhas (IB) e uma doenca viral aguda e altamente contagiosa que provoca grandes perdas economicas a industria avicola em todo o mundo. Considerando que surtos tem ocorrido no Brasil com emergencia de novas variantes de IBV, desafiando as estrategias de vacinacao atuais, este trabalho objetiva revisar os conhecimentos sobre IB e IBV, a sua distribuicao, as cepas e as vacinas utilizadas no Brasil. Palavras-chave: bronquite infecciosa, galinhas, IBV, virus, coronavirus, ave.