Influence of Dose of Inocula on Outcome of Clinical Disease in Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) Infections—An Experimental Study

Twelve-week-old Vanaraja (an Indian native dual purpose breed) chickens were inoculated intranasally with different doses (100, 1000, and 10,000 mean embryo infective dose [EID50]) of H5N1 virus, and the clinical disease and pathologic changes were compared. Although the overall severity of clinical signs was more severe in the 100 EID50 group, the progression of the clinical disease was slower with delayed onset of mortality when compared with the other two groups. The mean death time of the 100 EID50 group (4.57 days) differed significantly from that of the 10,000 EID50 group (3.60 days) and from that of the 1000 EID50 group (3.33 days). Similarly, overall severity of gross lesions was expressed more in the 100 EID50 group. The histopathologic lesions were of a more hemorrhagic and necrotic nature in the 100 EID50 group, histopathologic lesions were of an inflammatory/proliferative nature in the 1000 EID50 group, and a tendency for intravascular coagulopathy was observed in the 10,000 EID50 group. These differences may be assigned to the influence of dose in the outcome of disease.