Poultry Just Diseases

Diseases Only

Botulism

Toxin

Flaccid paralysis (Limberneck)

Anaerobic

No lesions

Cull paralyzed birds humanely and pick up dead birds

Encephalomalacia (Crazy Chick)

Vitamin E and Selenium deficiency

White striping in breast meat

Causes stargazing

Help by adding vitamin E into the water

Aspergillosis

Aspergillus fumigatus

Nodular lesions in the lungs and air sacs, and sometimes brain

Opportunistic pathogen

Hatchery’s fault - humidity spikes

Fix by cleaning hatchers

Marek’s Disease

Herpes Virus

Asymmetrical wing holding, feather follicle tumors, and swelling of nerves

7/11 disease

Infectious Bronchitis

Virus

Mucus plugs, upper respiratory disease

Short incubation period, rapid onset, spreads for miles through coughing and sneezing, can affect reproductive tract and cause misshapen eggs and drop in egg production

Prevent with vaccination - no antibiotics

Avian Influenza

Virus

Respiratory and gastrointestinal, proventricular hemorrhage, intestinal ulcerations, and high mortality

Fowl Plague

Hard to differentiate between high path AI and Exotic Newcastle Disease

Only prevention is biosecurity - no vaccination

Put the chicken in the chicken house and set the house on fire

Newcastle Disease

Virus

Respiratory and gastrointestinal, proventricular hemorrhage, intestinal ulcerations, and high mortality

Clinically indistinguishable from AI

Can cause skin or comb lesions

Conjunctivitis in humans

Lentogenic: low

Mesogenic: mid

Velogenic: high, Exotic New Castle

Vaccinate at hatchery and eradicate those with exotic

Infectious Laryngotracheitis (ILT)

Herpes Virus

Tracheal hemorrhage and blood from mouth and nares, dyspnea

Causes asphyxiation

Older chickens and turkeys, have to inform state veterinarian

Vaccination

Fowl Pox

True pox virus

Lesions on unfeathered areas (usually face)

Direct contact with abraded skin, oral mucosa, or via mosquitos

Slow incubation and slow spreading

Vaccination during outbreak is possible

Not usually seen in poultry with tunnel ventilation

Fowl Cholera

Pasteurella multocida

Bacterial respiratory disease

Septicemia and toxemia, dark congested lungs with pus, parboiled livers, petechial hemorrhages, and abscesses

Common

Antibiotics

Similar to Colibacillosis or Chlamydiosis

Colibacillosis

Escherichia coli

Bacterial respiratory disease

Septicemia, toxemia, usually less severe than cholera

Opportunistic pathogen - often a secondary infection

Antibiotics

Similar to Fowl Cholera or Chlamydiosis

Mycoplasmosis MG

Mycoplasma gallisepticum

Respiratory disease in chickens and turkeys, less severe in chickens

Test the breeders

Infraorbital sinusitis and airsacculitis, thin and water exudate (pus)

Mycoplasmosis MS

Mycoplasma synovia

Respiratory disease

Joint infections in chickens and turkeys

Mainly affected hocks

Joint fluid has honey-milk appearance

Mycoplasmosis MM

Mycoplasma meleagridis

Bone malformation and fused neck vertebrae

Only in turkeys

Coccidiosis

Eimeria spp.

Blood in feces, reduced performance, feed passage, diarrhea, wet litter in the house

Different tropisms for each part of the GI tract

Prevention is key, although vaccination and drugs exist

Unsporulated oocysts can’t infect

Infectious Coryza

Avibacterium paragallinarum

Bacterial infection

Infraorbital sinusitis and hard, dry exudate from sinus

Antibiotics and immunity are limited

Agent is fragile and disappears quickly w/o a host. Does not invade live tissue.

Could be confused with mycoplasmosis - observe exudate consistency

Prevention is key - biosecurity all in all out

Turkey Coryza

Bordetella avium

Sinusitis, tracheitis, tracheal thinning, asphyxiation

Prevention is key - biosecurity all in all out

Chlamydiosis

Chlamydia psittaci

Bacterial disease

Septicemia, toxemia, also parboiled liver

Rare in US for turkeys unless free-range

Human disease is rare but serious

Antibiotics

Similar to Fowl Cholera or Colibacillosis

Lymphoid Leukosis

Virus

Mortality over 20 weeks

Thin and emaciated, yellow beaks and legs, and tumors

Salmonellosis

Over 2000 species

200 zoonotic

Pullorum and Gallinarum

Salmonellosis pullorum

Endotoxemia

Severe disease with mortalities exceeds 80% in young chicks

Nodular enteritis, nodular myocarditis, inflamed liver with polka dots

Salmonellosis gallinarum

Endotoxemia

Severe disease with mortalities in adult birds

Nodular enteritis, nodular myocarditis, inflamed liver with polka dots

Avian Tuberculosis

Mycobacterium avium

Systemic microgranulomas, lesions on the liver

Unlikely in commercial poultry

Only in long-lived poultry

Technically zoonotic, but unlikely

Mycoplasmosis

Mycoplasma spp.

Can be vertically or horizontally transmitted

Can be complicated due to secondary infections

Antibiotics, but not for breeders