Candidate ‘Avian orthoreovirus B’: An emerging waterfowl pathogen in Europe and Asia?

A fusogenic virus was isolated from a flock of breeder Pekin ducks in 2019, Hungary. The affected flock experienced a marked decrease in egg production. Histopathological lesions were seen in the oviduct and in the lungs of birds sent for diagnostic investigation. The fusogenic agent was characterized as an orthoreovirus by viral metagenomics. The assembled viral genome was composed of 10 genomic segments and was 23,433 nucleotides (nt) in length. The study strain, designated Reo/HUN/DuckDV/2019, shared low-to-medium gene-wise sequence identity with avian orthoreovirus strains from galliform and anseriform birds (nt, 38.90%–72.33%) as well as with representative strains of neoavian orthoreoviruses (nt, 40.07%–68.23%). On the contrary, the study strain shared 86.48%–95.01% pairwise nt sequence identities with recent German and Chinese reovirus isolates, D2533/6 and Ych, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis clustered all three unusual waterfowl pathogens on a monophyletic branch, indicating a common evolutionary origin of Reo/HUN/DuckDV/2019 with these enigmatic orthoreoviruses described over the past few years. The finding that a candidate new orthoreovirus species, tentatively called Avian orthoreovirus B, was isolated in recent years in Europe and Asia in moribund ducks seems an alarming sign that needs to be better evaluated by extending laboratory diagnosis of viral pathogens in countries where the waterfowl industry is important.