Severe hepatopathy in geese and broilers associated with ochratoxin in their feed.

The feeding of a shipment of imported corn was associated with a severe reduction in growth and increased mortality in geese, and increased mortality in broilers. Pathological examinations revealed hepatopathy, visceral gout and mild nephropathy in geese, and in broilers an hepatopathy, which was often severe, and ascites. Samples of feed from affected geese farms were examined for up to 24 mycotoxins, and ochratoxin was found in 6 of 15 samples at levels up to 930 ng/g. The syndrome was experimentally reproduced by feeding geese and broilers suspect feeds with the natural ochratoxin contamination. It is believed that another, unidentified, mycotoxin was the major cause of the hepatotoxicity, and that ochratoxin served in this case as an indicator of a multi-mycotoxin involvement.

Disinfecting poultry production premises.

Hygiene and sanitation play a major role in any effective disease control programme for poultry production premises. One of the important requirements to facilitate hygiene and sanitation is adoption of the 'all-in/all-out' method (i.e. all the birds within a single establishment should be of the same age group), together with the restriction of each enterprise to a single type or species of bird. Poultry premises and buildings should comply with requirements for isolation from the environment and strict observance of principles of hygiene and disease prevention (e.g. restrictions on movement of staff, equipment and vehicles). A poultry site must be prepared methodically for the entry of each new batch (removal of birds, litter and manure; vector and rodent control; dry and wet cleaning; disinfection; fumigation). Attention should be paid to the terminal sanitation of houses and equipment after depopulation (physical and chemical cleaning, pressure washing, disinfection, fumigation). Particular care should be exercised in the performance of sanitary procedures after a disease outbreak. Immediate disposal of dead and diseased birds is an important and effective tool in preventing the dissemination of any disease. Disposal methods include the use of burial pits, tanks, burial in trenches, burning, rendering and composting. Regular visual inspection, together with routine testing by microbiological monitoring methods, is very effective in checking the efficacy of cleaning and disinfection.

Application of disinfectants in poultry hatcheries.

Veterinary control and routine sanitary procedures in commercial poultry hatcheries should include the following: choice of a suitable geographical location to ensure an isolated site; proper hatchery design with separation of major operations; one-way flow of work within the hatchery; adequate ventilation of each room; routine cleaning and disinfection; formaldehyde fumigation or alternative method for disinfection of eggs, equipment and incubators; a routine programme for monitoring microbial contamination levels within the hatchery.

Vaccination of young turkeys against fowl cholera.

Turkey poults vaccinated at one day of age with commercial inactivated Pasteurella multocida (PM) bacterin responded with low titres of antibody (ab) as measured by ELISA, but had an acceptable degree of resistance when challenged with the X-73 strain of PM until 13 weeks of age. Turkeys vaccinated at 3 and/or 6 weeks of age responded with higher ab titres and were resistant to virulent challenge with PM. Turkey poults vaccinated at 3 and/or 6 weeks of age with a commercial live PM vaccine had a poor immune response and low resistance to virulent challenge. When live PM vaccine was given to turkey poults previously vaccinated with an oil-emulsion PM bacterin, the turkey poults were highly resistant to virulent challenge, although the booster vaccination did not always induce a significant increase in the ab titres. The ELISA test used did not appear to be adequate for evaluation of the degree of protection induced in turkey flocks vaccinated at a very young age.

Newcastle disease in ostriches (Struthio camelus): field case and experimental infection.

An outbreak of Newcastle disease (ND) in ostriches is described. In a flock aged 5 to 9 months of age 13 out of 46 ostriches died, whereas a neighbouring flock of 11-month-old birds remained unaffected. The main clinical signs were nervous. Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) titres reached log(2) 8. The virus was isolated from the brain only. Experimental infection of five, 3-month-old ostriches with virulent ND virus caused the death of three birds within 5 to 10 d. Another had to be killed after showing typical signs. HI titres after 5 days exceeded log(2) 5. The virus could be reisolated from different organs.

Chicken dermatitis and loss of feathers from Candida albicans.

An epidemic of dermatitis affecting the skin of the back and thighs of chickens in Israel is described. The causal organism was shown to be Candida albicans.