Occurrence of Marek’s Disease in Poland on the Basis of Diagnostic Examination in 2015–2018

INTRODUCTION: Marek’s disease (MD) is a tumourous disease caused by Marek’s disease virus (MDV) and most commonly described in poultry. The aim of the study was to determine the occurrence of Marek’s disease virus infections in Poland and analyse clinical cases in the years 2015–2018. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The birds for diagnostic examination originated from 71 poultry flocks of various types of production. Birds were subjected to anatomopathological examination post mortem, during which liver and spleen sections and other pathologically changed internal organs were taken. These sections were homogenised with generally accepted methods, then total DNA was isolated and amplified with a real-time PCR. A pair of primers complementary to the MDV genome region encoding the meq gene were used. RESULTS: MDV infection was found predominantly in broiler chicken flocks (69.01%), and also in layer breeder (9.85%) and commercial layer flocks (7.04% each). CONCLUSION: The results of research conducted in the years 2015–2018 clearly indicate that the problem of MDV infections is still current.