The poultry industry is decreasing the gap between demand & supply of meat and eggs in Pakistan. There are many obstacles which interfere with growth and development of poultry sector, especially neoplastic diseases, which leads to heavy economic losses in poultry industry. Marek’s disease (MD) falls under the category of major viral neoplastic diseases of poultry with estimated annual losses of about 1-2 billion US $. Current study was designed to investigate the molecular prevalence and pathology of MD in layers and layer breeders from Faisalabad division. A total of 951 samples were collected from different poultry farms of Faisalabad through simple random sampling technique. PCR was performed by targeting meq gene with product size of 314bp and 180 (18.93%) samples were found positive for MD while 20.41, 12.50 and 15.62% prevalence were noted in district Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh and Jhang respectively. Gross lesions of Marek’s disease were diffused and nodular lymphomas found in visceral organs and muscles with discolored, dull and swollen sciatic nerve. Positive samples showed severe T-lymphocytic infiltration in hepatic, splenic, renal and nerve parenchyma. It was concluded that MDV, serotype-1 is frequently present in Faisalabad division and proper vaccination schedule with good quality vaccines should be adopted both in commercial and backyard poultry.

To Cite This Article: Tahir MW, Saleemi MK, Javed MT and Saqib M, 2024. Prevalence and Pathology of Marek’s Disease in Layers and Layer breeders from Faisalabad Division Punjab. Pak Vet J. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2025.309