Poultry researchers study new vaccine options for ILT

USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation have announced the completion of a funded research project at the University of Georgia in Athens, in which researchers have developed a new vaccine candidate for infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) to be applied in ovo. The project is part of the association’s comprehensive research program encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing. A brief summary of the completed project is shown below. A complete report, along with information on other association research, may be obtained by going to USPOULTRY’s website, www.uspoultry.org. The project summary is as follows.
Project #683: Designing a New Generation of Live Attenuated Infectious Laryngotracheitis Virus (ILTV) Vaccines for In Ovo Vaccination in Broilers(Dr. Maricarmen García, Department of Population Health, University of Georgia, Athens)
Researchers at the university have developed a new vaccine candidate for infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) to be applied in ovo. The group, led by Dr. García, found that deleting a gene from the ILT virus makes the virus less virulent and more useful as a vaccine. The new vaccine gives good protection against ILT but is not safe enough to use in ovo in chicks with no maternal antibody against ILT. Continued efforts are being made to make the vaccine safer.