Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Preventive Veterinary Medicine journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/prevetmed Serological evidence for eight globally important poultry viruses in Trinidad & Tobago Arianne Brown Jordan a , Jamie Sookhoo a , Lemar Blake a , Paul Crooks d , Zul Mohammed c , Judy Molawatti-Bisnath c , Christine V.F. Carrington b , Christopher A.L. Oura a, ⁎ a Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, The University of the West Indies (St. Augustine), Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago b Department of Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago c Poultry Surveillance Unit, Animal Production and Health Services Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, National Animal Disease Centre, Caroni North Bank Road, Centeno, Trinidad and Tobago d Division of Food Production and Fisheries, Tobago House of Assembly, Trinidad and Tobago ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Avian influenza Infectious bronchitis Infectious laryngotracheitis Avian pneumovirus Infectious bursal disease Avian adenovirus ABSTRACT Viruses affecting poultry cause significant levels of disease leading to severe economic losses among poultry farmers worldwide. The Americas region continues to be vulnerable to the spread of poultry viruses across the continents and Caribbean island chains. In Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) there is limited information on the viruses circulating in poultry. Many flock are vulnerable to infection and there are occasional outbreaks of disease resulting in high levels of morbidity and mortality. This study aims to identify important viruses of poultry circulating in T&T through a broad-based surveillance approach. Serum samples from 29 layer farms in Trinidad and 14 layer farms in Tobago were collected from the eldest laying hens. Samples were tested from unvaccinated birds for antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) against Avian influenza virus (AIV), Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), Newcastle disease virus (NDV), Infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV), Avian pneumovirus (APV), Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), Fowl adenovirus Gp1 (FADV) and Egg drop syndrome virus (EDSV). In Trinidad, the estimated true seroprevalence levels of antibodies were 0% (CI 95%: 0–0%) for AIV, 100% (CI 95%: 97–100%) for IBV, 79.8% (CI 95%: 70.6–86.9%) for NDV, 1% (CI 95%: 0–2.6%) for ILTV, 67.55% (CI 95%: 62.3–72.4%) for APV, 94.93% (CI 95%: 88.0–98.6%) for IBDV, 100% (CI 95%: 99.7–100%) for FADV and 67.8% (CI 95%: 62.4–72.8%) for EDSV. In Tobago, seroprevalence levels were 0% (CI 95%: 0–0%) for AIV, 100% (CI 95%: 95.6–100%) for IBV, 80.5% (CI 95%: 70.1–88.5%) for NDV, 29.9% (CI 95%: 20.8–40.6%) for ILTV, 100% (CI 95%: 97.7–100%) for APV, 97.1% (CI95%: 89.9–100%) for IBDV, 100% (CI 95%: 97.5–100%) for FADV and 100% (CI 95%: 99–100%) for EDSV. The results reveal strong evidence for the circulation of IBV, NDV, APV, IBDV, FADV and EDSV in layer poultry on both islands, as well as ILTV in Tobago. 1. Introduction Viral diseases continue to threaten poultry industries worldwide, causing significant economic losses due to a combinations of reduced weight gain, morbidity and mortality. The twin island state of Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) is no exception as it has a thriving but vulnerable poultry industry. T&T is self-sufficient in broiler meat production and poultry meat consumption was estimated to be 53.8 kg/capita in 2011; the 7th highest in the world (Evans, 2014, 2015). The layer industry, though smaller, is also self-sufficient and yields approximately 65 million eggs yearly (FAOSTAT, 2013). T&T is located to the southern end of the chain of Caribbean islands and is only 7 km from Venezuela on the South American continent. Trinidad’s land mass is about 4768 km 2 and is divided into 8 counties, whereas Tobago is approxi- mately 300 km 2 , 5.8% of the total country area. On both islands farmers occasionally experience high rates of morbidity and mortality in their poultry flocks and on many occasions a definitive diagnosis is not achieved. Very little research has been conducted into the viral causes of disease affecting poultry in T&T despite these outbreak incidents and there is currently limited baseline data available on the presence of avian viruses in poultry within the country. In this study, we used a serological approach to investigate viral https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2017.11.006 Received 5 September 2017; Received in revised form 3 November 2017; Accepted 6 November 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: brown.arianne@gmail.com (A. Brown Jordan), vekey2@gmail.com (J. Sookhoo), Lemar.Blake@sta.uwi.edu (L. Blake), pauldcrooks@gmail.com (P. Crooks), judybisnath136@gmail.com (J. Molawatti-Bisnath), christine.carrington@sta.uwi.edu (C.V.F. Carrington), chris.oura@sta.uwi.edu (C.A.L. Oura). Preventive Veterinary Medicine 149 (2018) 75–81 0167-5877/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. T