Lack of approved drugs rated turkey industry’s top health issue

The lack of approved efficacious drugs continues to be the top disease issue facing the turkey industry, according to a report by three industry experts presented at the Midwest Poultry Federation Convention, held March 11–12, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Dr. Steven Clark, senior technical services veterinarian, Zoetis; Dr. Michelle Kromm, president of the Association of Veterinarians in Turkey Production; and Andrew Bailey, scientific and regulatory affairs manager for the National Turkey Federation, prepared the report after surveying turkey industry professionals and veterinarians regarding the health status of turkeys produced in August 2011 through August 2012. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most severe, the survey showed the lack of approved drugs ranking at a 4.8.
Highlighting the severity of the problem is the withdrawal of the New Animal Drug Application for enrofloxacin in 2005 for use in poultry, leaving the industry with no adequate therapeutic response to colibacillosis or fowl cholera.
The lack of approved drugs was also rated the most severe disease issue during the previous year.
Ranking second among major disease issues is cholstridial dermatitis, previously known as cellulitis. Seventy-six percent of survey respondents ranked it either as a 4 or a 5, giving it a cumulative rating of 3.8.
Colibacillosis was ranked as the third-greatest health problem for the second straight year. Respondents rated it at a 3.6, with heat stress ranked just slightly lower for its second consecutive year as the fourth-biggest health problem.
Late mortality and leg problems followed as the next most severe health issues, with both earning a cumulative rating of 3.

NTF responds to outbreak of H1N1 in turkeys in Chile

Following the recent diagnosis of 2009 H1N1 influenza in two flocks of breeding turkeys in Chile, the National Turkey Federation has issued a series of talking points relating to avian influenza.
Available from the NTF, the summary can be requested via e-mail to srosenblatt @tukeyfed.org.
Items which are common to turkeys, broilers and egg products are:
•The novel 2009 H1N1 virus is a human disease with only one case of transmission from humans to hogs in Canada and the recently discovered turkey flocks in Chile, despite the extensive dissemination of the virus among humans worldwide.
•Novel 2009 H1N1 influenza virus has never been diagnosed in any poultry flock in the U.S. despite extensive surveillance implemented this year.
•Intensive poultry production systems protect flocks from exposure to wild birds which currently are not known to be carriers of this strain.
•Biosecurity procedures should limit the possibility of transfer from an infected human to flocks.
•Influenza viruses specific to poultry are not known to be spread in meat products or eggs derived from infected poultry flocks.

H1N1 isolated in breeder turkeys has human connection

A report in the Daily Influenza Digest confirmed that the influenza strain H1N1 isolated from breeder turkeys in Chile is identical to the 2009 novel pandemic influenza strain circulating in humans throughout the world.
The full genomic sequence is yet to be determined but the health secretary of Chile said the strain did not represent a mutation. The affected flocks showed a 70% depression in egg production.
Concurrent influenza-A infection among humans, pigs and turkeys in close contact has been recorded in a few countries, confirming that humans suffering from influenza or suspected of being infected should not have either direct or indirect contact with poultry or livestock.

Avian flu found in Minnesota turkeys

An unidentified commercial turkey flock in central Minnesota has been quarantined by the Board of Animal Health after routine testing discovered a strain of the avian flu virus, labeled H7N9, according to an Associated Press news report.
Minnesota Board of Animal Health Assistant Director Dale Lauer stressed that the avian flu strain found at the Meeker County farm was different from the strain that has caused problems in birds and humans mostly in Asia.
Lauer, a veterinarian, went on to inform that the strain of virus found at the farm didn't pose a threat to the general public but could cause mild symptoms in poultry workers, including mild eye infections and mild respiratory problems.
According to him, the quarantined flock was showing no signs of illness, but if left unchecked the virus could morph into a form that could be more pathogenic to the state's commercial poultry flocks. Minnesota is the nation's top turkey producing state.
Surrounding poultry farms in a three-mile radius have also been quarantined and will undergo the same routine testing and observation as the primary site.

ARS finds Bordetella hinzii pathogenic in turkeys

Bordetella hinzii was believed to be nonpathogenic in poultry because previous attempts to cause disease in poultry with the bacterium have failed, but Agricultural Research Service scientists announced study results that prove otherwise.
Scientists at the ARS examined several Bordetella isolates, including some that had caused 100% morbidity in turkey. Although the isolates had been labeled as B. avium, the scientists found that they were actually B. hinzii, showing for the first time that some strains of B. hinzii can cause disease in turkeys.
In a similar study done on chickens no birds developed the clinical disease, suggesting that the pathogenicity of B. hinzii does not extend to chickens.