Marek’s disease virus and skin interactions

Marek’s disease virus (MDV) is a highly contagious herpesvirus which induces T-cell lymphoma in the chicken. This virus is still spreading in flocks despite forty years of vaccination, with important economical losses worldwide. The feather follicles, which anchor feathers into the skin and allow their morphogenesis, are considered as the unique source of MDV excretion, causing environmental contamination and disease transmission. Epithelial cells from the feather follicles are the only known cells in which high levels of infectious mature virions have been observed by transmission electron microscopy and from which cell-free infectious virions have been purified. Finally, feathers harvested on animals and dust are today considered excellent materials to monitor vaccination, spread of pathogenic viruses, and environmental contamination. This article reviews the current knowledge on MDV-skin interactions and discusses new approaches that could solve important issues in the future.