High mortality associated with avian reoviral hepatitis in young quail

A high mortality of quail chicks was reported from a grower site. Metagenomic sequencing on the liver detected high reads of orthoreovirus. Then, Reovirus was successfully isolated from the liver and lung on the LMH cell line. In addition, electron microscopy revealed reovirus viral particles and the virus factory in the formalin-fixed livers and viral-infected cell culture. And WGS was done on the isolated virus. Reports of reovirus infection in quail are rare and limited. This case report emphasizes that avian reovirus can cause hepatitis in quail chicks and should be considered for differential diagnosis.