Role of Humoral and Cell-Mediated Immunity on the Recovery of Chickens from Fowlpox Virus Infection

Abstract

The influence of thymectomy and bursectomy in chickens on the recovery from fowlpox virus infection was examined. It was found that the virus titer in the lesions the 2nd week after infection was well correlated with the migration inhibition test of splenic cells. Healing time after the infection also was correlated with the migration inhibition test of splenic cells. These findings suggest that cell-mediated immunity plays a more important role in the recovery than does humoral immunity. However, the mechanism of humoral immunity was not excluded since the mortality was significantly higher in bursectomized-thymectomized chickens than in thymectomized chickens.