Novel goose parvovirus as a major risk factor for red skin and bristle feather syndrome in meat ducks: Epidemiological associations with duck circovirus and reovirus

Description

Zhongcheng Sun and co-authors investigate a 2026 duck farm scourge in China: red skin and bristle feather syndrome, which reddens backs and wrecks feather growth in meat ducks. They collected 300 samples from sick and healthy birds across eight major producing provinces between February and July 2025. Quantitative PCR screened multiple pathogens, followed by family-tree analysis of the main hits.

Duck circovirus led detections at 66.44 percent of tested samples, then novel duck reovirus at 32.33 percent and waterfowl parvovirus at 19.18 percent in the screening. Solo parvovirus infection, mostly the novel goose type, carried nearly tenfold odds of the syndrome. Neither other virus hurt alone, but pairing either with parvovirus sharply worsened disease. Shandong province was the hotspot, and three-to-five-week-old ducks were most vulnerable. The authors call for targeted vaccines.

Catalog record

Source: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/PMC13292688