Detection and Quantification of and spp. in Poultry Dust Using Real-Time PCR Under Experimental and Field Conditions.

Infection of poultry with spp., the causative agent of coccidiosis, can predispose birds to necrotic enteritis (NE) caused by gene-positive strains of . The detection of spp.

Can a combination of vaccination, probiotic and organic acid treatment in layer hens protect against early life exposure to Salmonella Typhimurium and challenge at sexual maturity?

Day old layer chicks were challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium using a seeder bird technique. Treatment groups were untreated control, administration of a probiotic in drinking water weekly, vaccination by intramuscular injection of a live aro-A deletion mutant vaccine at 10 weeks of age (woa) followed by an oral dose at 16 woa, probiotic administration plus vaccination, vaccination plus the administration of an organic acid preparation in feed from 16 woa and a combination of probiotic, vaccine and organic acid. Faecal shedding was monitored by culture at 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 15, 17, 20, 21, 23 and 25 woa and in dust from settle plates by PCR at intervals from 8 woa.

Marked differences in virulence of three Australian field isolates of infectious laryngotracheitis virus in meat and layer chickens.

The objectives of this study were to compare the virulence of contemporary infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) field isolates of classes 9, 10, and 14 in meat and layer chickens, and to evaluate cloacal and oropharyngeal swabs and dust as sample types for ILTV detection. A total of 211 chickens were divided into groups and inoculated with ILTV class 9, 10, or 14, or sham-inoculated via eye drop at 15 or 22 days of age. Chickens were euthanized at 5 and 9 days post-infection.

A practical method for assessing infectious laryngotracheitis vaccine take in broilers following mass administration in water: Spatial and temporal variation in viral genome content of poultry dust after vaccination.

Infectious laryngotracheitis is an important disease of chickens caused by infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV). Outbreaks commonly occur in meat chicken flocks and mass vaccination with live attenuated vaccines, usually in water, is used to control the disease in these populations. Vaccination with live virus via water and nipple drinkers requires stringent adherence to protocols to ensure success, but vaccine administration monitoring is not currently assessed due to a lack of economically viable methods.

Uptake and spread of infectious laryngotracheitis vaccine virus within meat chicken flocks following drinking water vaccination.

Vaccination against infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV) in commercial broiler flocks in the field, which is only undertaken in the face of a local outbreak, requires mass administration techniques, usually via drinking water. This is often fraught with difficulties such as variable vaccination "reactions" and sometimes, vaccination failure. Laboratory testing of the outbreak strains however invariably shows the vaccines in use to be protective.

Response of layer and broiler strain chickens to parenteral administration of a live Salmonella Typhimurium vaccine.

Responses to the parenteral administration of a live aroA deletion Salmonella serovar Typhimurium vaccine given to three brown egg layer strains and two broiler strains were studied. Twenty-five birds of each strain were reared together in floor pens to 6 weeks of age and then moved as individual strains to new floor pens and injected with 10(8) colony forming units (CFU) per bird of the vaccine bacteria intramuscularly or subcutaneously, 10(6) CFU per bird subcutaneously, or phosphate buffered saline (PBS) subcutaneously as a vaccination control. Three birds of one layer strain were injected intramuscularly with 0.

Development, application, and results of routine monitoring of Marek's disease virus in broiler house dust using real-time quantitative PCR.

Results are presented from four studies between 2002 and 2011 into the feasibility of routinely monitoring Marek's disease virus serotype 1 (MDV-1) in broiler house dust using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) measurement. Study 1 on two farms showed that detection of MDV-1 occurred earlier on average in dust samples tested using qPCR than standard PCR and in spleen samples from five birds per shed assayed for MDV-1 by qPCR or standard PCR. DNA quality following extraction from dust had no effect on detection of MDV-1.