LAUSR

Background: The avian leukosis virus (ALV-J) is a retrovirus causing irreversible damage and loss of function in tissues and organs in a chicken body, especially in those related to the immune system, thus resulting in considerable economic loss. Methods: We measured the changes in the weights of immune organs, such as the spleen, bursa of Fabricius, thymus, heart and liver and body weight at days 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 42 after ALV-J infection and analysed the differences between the corresponding tissues and normal groups at each time. Result: The unique weight change in pspleen tissues indicates that the organ plays an important role in fighting ALV-J infection in the early stage. Moreover, the phenotypic inhibition of ALV-J in the tissues and organs started to appear 28 days after infection.