New guidelines released for aspergillosis management in poultry

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health has released a brochure on the control and prevention of aspergillosis, a common and aggressive fungal contamination that causes poultry producers significant trouble.
According to experts, some contamination is almost inevitable, since it takes so little for Aspergillus spores to spread. "The Trojan horse for the contamination can be eggs from the breeder farm, dust from the feed mill or the field or hatchery waste," said Dr. Charlie Broussard, U.S. poultry technical service director for Intervet/Schering-Plough. "A single egg can shower the hatchery and ventilation system with the Aspergillus spores, which are very difficult to eliminate once they colonize."
If not controlled, outbreaks can result in higher embryo mortality, early chick and growth period mortality, poor weight gain in broilers, increased treatment costs and loss of grower confidence in chicks. "In the case of aspergillosis, an ounce of prevention is worth considerably more than a pound of cure," said Broussard. "In the brochure, we show how proper sanitation, in ovo vaccination, egg transportation, biosecurity and hatchery design contribute to preventing and controlling aspergillosis."