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Control of Coccidiosis and Necrotic Enteritis - Greg Mathis

Published: March 8, 2018
Greg Mathis (Southern Poultry Research) offered his insights on what to do and use to control and mitigate this diseases, including essential oils, butyric acid and other additives, during IPPE 2018 in Atlanta, USA.
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Authors:
Greg Mathis
Southern Poultry Research, Inc.
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Emad Elgazzar
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Nguemfo arlette
16 de abril de 2018
Very interesting topic. I'm PhD student in Cameroon working on the préventive ans curative effect of plant extract on caecal coccidiosis.
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dan hofer
16 de abril de 2018
so what oils r the most used in feed
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ELIAFIE SWAI
17 de abril de 2018
Yes we wish we could shade more light on Prevention in small holder conditions! Thanks
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Atef Abou Zead
17 de abril de 2018

What are the most effective oils for control of coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis?

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Ove Christoffersen
Biocide
18 de abril de 2018

Very interesting - another issue that also needs to be done, is poultry hygiene between flocks.
We need to eliminate (or, second best, reduce the pressure) of the Coccidia and the spores from Clostridia, by very good cleaning and disinfection. Especially in cracks in floors, etc.

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Khristoffer C. Villanueva
26 de abril de 2018
Ove Christoffersen well said
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Stephen Adejoro Dr
Soavet
19 de abril de 2018
Can fumigation of houses with hot formaldehyde gas's reduce clostridia and coccifia load before birds are stocked?
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David S. O. K. Quartey
19 de abril de 2018
These two diseases are very common with broiler breeders in Ghana. I do believe strongly that biosecurity controls can improve the situation.
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Surender Reddy
20 de abril de 2018

We have tried different kinds of phytochemical ingredients like saponins, tannins, alkaloids, essential oils etc to prevent coccidiosis but unfortunately, we couldn't get consistent results with these ayurvedic products, so majority producers in India are depending on ionophores or other chemical anticoccidials,
In case of necrotic enteritis you have so many opportunities to control through probiotics, acids like butyric acid, antibiotic growth promoters like zinc bacitracin, bacitracin methylene disalycilate etc...

Of course, the best method to prevent them is to give top priority to disinfection with multiple disinfectants, and proper cleaning of sheds in case of deep litter system and rotation and shuttle programmes in anti coccidials drugs which are giving excellent results.

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Dr. Sekhar Sushil Basak
Innovista
26 de abril de 2018
Surender Reddy worldwide AGPs are getting banned. Even under developed countries like Nepal and Bangladesh have banned antibiotics in feed. You think it is a good idea to promote AGPs?
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Khristoffer C. Villanueva
26 de abril de 2018
Sekhar Basak banned in some countries, not worldwide.
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Sachin Patil
Huvepharma
26 de abril de 2018
Dear Sir, Your true. Its banned in Bangladesh and Nepal. But AGPs still being used in USA as well. The AGPs like Zinc Bacitracin,Bacitracin Methelyne Disalicylate and Flavophospholipol can be used in animal feeds.
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Sachin Patil
Huvepharma
26 de abril de 2018

Dear Sir,
Exactly.
It's not so easy task to control NE and coccidiosis in our farm conditions without being using AGPs, Probiotics, Probiotics, Xylanase, good cocci scheduled in rotation/shuttle and better farm management.

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Surender Reddy
26 de abril de 2018
Dear sir, It's not a good idea to use any antibiotic as a growth promoter or therapeutic use,but to control diseases when we have an option its better to use to reduce the losses,in general whatever antibiotics we use in human diseases they should not be used very frequently,but the AGPs like ZINC BACITRACIN, BM Disalicilate etc we use in poultry are not being used by humans,so resistance chances are very less, So for time being till we get alternatives using these are not a bad idea sir....
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Cesar A. Lopes
Phibro Animal Health
Phibro Animal Health
30 de abril de 2018

Sekhar Basak
Dear Basak, as a matter of fact not all antibiotics should ever be used as growth promotants. There are drugs that work and are safe at the same time, but they are just a few antibiotics that will attend current regulations and will represent no risk to humans.

Examples are BMD, Virginiamycin, Zinc bacitracin and a few others which have been granted with the so-called Maximum Residue Limit (MRL), by demanding authorities such as Japanese Authority of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry, the European Medicine Agency EMA, the FDA, the APVMA from Australia and so on.

Even European Countries that implemented the bannings since the year 1986 have granted MRLs to some drugs, and this is a recognition that these drugs are safe. So why a Country should ban a drug that was recognised as a safe one by themselves?

One reason is the lack of knowledge of most consumers about animal production, which influences politicians. We should not forget that polititians care about their own Country only.

The other reason is the sincere intention of many researchers and decision makers to assure that antibiotics remain effective when required to treat humans.

But there is another very, I repeat, very important reason: Europe, the region where bannings started, does not want more milk, eggs or more meat because they can no longer keep paying subsidies like they did before, for the local producers.

Also, they can´t compete with the costs and quality of exporting animal protein competitors such as Australia, Brazil, USA, Argentina and so on.
Their consumers also don´t care to pay 500% more for animal protein when compared to the costs of other not-so-rich Countries.

Using approved growth promotants represents lower production costs, less carbon emission, less waste in the environment and mainly lower cost for the food that people need to feed their families.

To make short a long story, the purpose of banning such products, that is, to use less antibiotics in animals, has not been successful, instead it has been --and still is-- a gross failure.
Just take a look on the site https://www.danmap.org/ the Danish program that surveys antibiotic usage in humans and animals.

You will see that back in the year 1998, the last year when they allowed antibiotic growth promotants, the Country used 57.300 kg of terapeutic antibiotics (the very same ones used by humans) to treat animals. As time passed, the banning of growth promotants, which also have the ability to prevent animal diseases, increased in such an extent that in the year 2005 this use raised to 125.500 kg and in the year 2010 it had already reached 162.650 kg.

Insted of using drugs with MRL as growth promotants, now they cannot avoid using tetracyclines, penicilins, sulphas and other antibiotics that are important for humans for treating sick animals.

It is obvious that there are options other than Bacitracin, Virginiamycin and BMD. But these options are to be used due to their efficacy and not because approved antibiotic growth promotants are unsafe.

Each Country should implement measures that will be a bennefit for the local people but before anything, one should ask what will be the outcome if the same measures that failed in the rich European Union are taken by other
not-so-reach Countries?

Best regards, Cesar.

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Surender Reddy
30 de abril de 2018
Cesar A. Lopes Excellent analysis sir,where AGPs are banned there the therapeutic usage of drugs are increasing tremandously,and you have given nice stats,so by this we can understand that the drugs which are not being used in humans can be used in animal productions in order to control pathogenic bacteria and losses of the producers..in order to control clostredia,e coli,salmonella etc we have very good solutions like acidifiers,organic acids,probiotics, essential oils,some of the phytochemical ingrediants like allicin,curcuminol,gingerol,thymol etc can be used safely......they are very much effective aganist pathogenic bacteria...
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Rakesh Gupta
Venkys
Venkys
25 de abril de 2018

Yes, the coccidiosis can be contained by proper disinfection salt solution of 5 % is also very effective if done in empty shed before housing the flock.

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Emmanuel Nwaotule
25 de abril de 2018

Coccidiosis is purely a management challenge. Poultry managers should give serious attention to proper litter management to prevent birds from picking spores of coccidia organisms. Wet litter should be avoided always by packing affected portions after water spillage. Bacillus subtilis enzymes produces butyric acid which has been found to be helpful in the control of coccidiosis and enteritis. In the overall proper pen sanitation must be a matter of priority to all poultry keepers.

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saratu abdulsalam
25 de abril de 2018
Good and proper hygiene can help.
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Cesar A. Lopes
Phibro Animal Health
Phibro Animal Health
25 de abril de 2018

Agree with several of these comments so let me put some thoughts about my experience on coccidiosis. Necrotic enteritis would be for another occasion.
Let´s not forget that clean houses don´t allow the chicks to develop early immune response against coccidiosis, instead, this will delay the immune response which will typically play an important role of coccidiosis control when ionophores are used.
I recommend you to refer to the term "new house syndrome" a condition when coccidiosis outbreaks are more severe than outbreaks of old (and contaminated) houses. The downtime between flocks and disinfection is obviously important for any diseases but don´t play an important role in the coccidiosis incidence in a new flock (see M. K. Henken 1994). After all, the oocysts don´t live for a long time in the litter because they are killed by ammonia, bacteria etc (See Reyna et al. Avian Diseases Vol. 27, 1982).
Let´s also remind that different chemical anticoccidials and ionophores should not be put in the same basket. They will typically deliver quite different results, e.g: nicarbazin is not expected to generate widespread resistance (Biology of the Coccidia, by Peter Long /Larry McDougald page 396) but makes birds more sensitive to heat stress. Diclasuril and Robenidin have no problems with heath stress however as "vertical drugs" they generate resistant strains much quicker than nicarbazin or ionophores.
The ionophores are "horizontal anticoccidials" (Mike Eckman) and as such, are not as strong in preventing coccidiosis as the chemical / vertical drugs.
As a result of that, they don´t generate resistance easily. However, they usually allow some degree of lesions in the flocks. One detail that lacks proper investigation is how much stronger is each of the five ionophore drugs against each of the Eimeria species. Some ionophores can be quite strong against, say E. tenella, but weaker against E. acervulina or vice-versa. This means that most of the times when an ionophore is not delivering the expected level of protection, this is not related to resistance, instead, it is because that drug is not the best option for the challenge of that region/company/flock. There are lots of details to be discussed here but for the present time here is my opinion:

1-Disinfection against coccidiosis is not effective. In fact, when we kill bacteria and fungi, we are protecting the coccidia. In laboratory work, we protect coccidia strain with chlorine or potassium dichromate which are two very strong disinfectants.

2-Chemical drugs and ionophores should not be rotated under the same approach. Rotation is intended to avoid resistance but these two classes of drugs have different abilities to generate resistance.

3-Regardless of being monovalent or divalent drugs, each ionophore delivers different and specific degrees of protection against each coccidia species, therefore one important consideration to take into account for a good coccidiosis control is to check which species is more prevalent in a given region and which ionophore provides better efficacy against that species. Regards.
C. A. Lopes DVM

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Jamal Al-Saifi
Innovad
12 de mayo de 2019

Cesar A. Lopes Well explained and outlined, thanks for sharing your insight and experience.

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Emmanuel Nwaotule
26 de abril de 2018
Many thanks Dr Lopes. Please what do you think about the use of both pre and probiotics in the prophylaxis rather than curative in the control of both coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis ? These would help to a greater extent if flocks are started on these earlier in their lives.
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Cesar A. Lopes
Phibro Animal Health
Phibro Animal Health
26 de abril de 2018
Emmanuel Nwaotule Dear Emmanuel, thank you for your message. Although this discussion refers to two diseases, that is, coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis, there are some aspects to be taken into account: coccidiosis is one of the leading factors to necrotic enteritis but necrotic enteritis is not a leading factor to coccidiosis. That means that a good control of coccidiosis will diminish necrotic enteritis challenge but controlling necrotic enteritis is not expected to drop coccidiosis challenge. I had already made a summary of my thoughts about coccidiosis control and drug rotation. I said that one needs to consider the difference among vertical and horizontal drugs (chemicals and ionophores) which are act differently, are not sensitive to a same degree of resistance and cannot be considered under a same approach, so now let´s focus on necrotic enteritis. Of course that litter management, vaccination against some viral diseases such as IBD, Marek and so on, and good husbandry practices are important. But frequently they are not enough as seen in the USA and Europe. So far the best way to control NE is through the use of some of the so-called antibiotic growth promotants or AGPs. Although not as much as effective as the AGPs, ionophore anticoccidials (but not chemical anticoccidials) also have a significant degree of efficay in preventing necrotic enteritis. It is interesting, not to say quite strange that even after agreeing that some of these drugs are safe, some Countries don´t allow the use of any AGPs. After passing through independent studies, drugs such as BMD, Virginiamycin and Zinc Bacitracin have been granted with Maximum Residue Limits -LMR- by regulatory Authorities like the European EMA, the APVMA from Australia, the Japanese Authority, Candian FDA, US FDA and many others. A MRL means that a drug has gone through a series of independent studies which proved that they represent no risk of any kind for humans, including the possibility of transmiting resistance. But let´s talk about probiotics and prebiotics. Regarding the use of those products but specially probiotics they enhance intestinal health and may compete against clostridium. The outcome of a better intestinal condition is that clostridium will be less capable to start colonising the intestinal tract and less cases of necrotic enteritis will be observed. I see that you are from Belgium, where AGPs are not allowed therefore the use of probiotics and also acidifiers (clostridium live and reproduce better in alcaline environments) seem to be a good option to drop the incidence of necrotic enteritis. Best regards,
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Joshua A. Jendza
Qualitech
30 de abril de 2018

Cesar A. Lopes

Thanks for contributing to the conversation!

Your last point regarding acidifiers is a good one, and one I'm not sure most people are aware of. The general model of NE as Coccidia lesions + Clostridium infection of the lesions suggests that control of Clostridium can reduce the incidence and severity of NE, even if overall coccidia load is unchanged. While acidification is an older topic in Europe, it is still a relatively new topic in other markets such as the US, where Coccidia and NE are still significant economic problems.

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Violet
30 de abril de 2018
Cesar A. Lopes thanks a lot for the information
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Violet
30 de abril de 2018
Joshua Jendza please throw more light on acidification
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Aliyu Sagir
3 de mayo de 2018
Thank you sir
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Khristoffer C. Villanueva
26 de abril de 2018
Coccidia and clostridiums are ubiquitous in the environment where poultry are present. Proper vaccination, Farm sanitation especially litter management and ionophore rotation are essential in the control of this diseases. Any stressful changes (wether be it a disease, poor farm management, nutrition etc) that may affect the normal microbiota of birds may result in enteritis.
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Emmanuel Nwaotule
27 de abril de 2018
Thank you so much for this explanation Dr Lopes. No I am a Nigerian not a Belgian but I am representing a Belgian company here in Nigeria. My discussions are based on my NIGERIAN livestock field experiences. Many thanks again and cheers.
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Atef Abou Zead
1 de mayo de 2018
What are the best organic acids for controlling of clostridium?
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Atef Abou Zead
1 de mayo de 2018
Of practical importance in different countries? In Egypt the most important are butyric acid, acidic acid and lactic acid .
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Atef Abou Zead
3 de mayo de 2018
What is the mode of action of butyric acid on coccidiosis?
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Aliyu Sagir
3 de mayo de 2018
Thank you very much sir, for your explanation we are very greatful sir
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Dr.Mohammed Jewel Kadir
5 de mayo de 2018
Bangladesh is a country of expanding poultry industry by open house shed. Most of them are concrete, semi-concrete and mud floor and affected by coccidiosis frequently, farmers are very much loosing economically. No feed company still perform successful anticiccidial Protocol. Seasonal variation also big factors for loosing specially in hot & humid environment from February to May in each year by several viral and bacterial diseases outbreaks with coccidisis(E.acervulina, maxima and tenella) and nectrotic enteritis. What would be the suggestions for control of coccidiosis?
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