Fowl Cholera in poultry

Good great farmer i need help with layer formular because commercial feed too expensive

Dr. Gbenga Abdullateef, It is a good question. The chronic of fowl cholera offers no problems because the swelling wattles and comb is pathognomonic. In the hyperacute form of fowl cholera the sudden death due to cyanosis does not occur in the other two diseases you ask for. Many other lesions, as for instance generalised congestion and arthritis, happen in many other diseases and differential diagnosis require seeking for the aetiological agent. The chronic form of the three diseases is different but the acute forms are similar and much more difficult to differentiate. Nevertheless, there are some subtle differences that may be found in some of the necropsies. At some stage of the diseases the hepatic lesions of fowl typhoid and fowl cholera are identical but in typhoid hepatomegaly is nearly always accompanied by notable splenomegaly and such prominent lesion of the spleen is not found in cholera. Other clue is the notable green colour of the liver affected by fowl typhoid due the bile stasis, something that does not happen in the other two diseases. The caseum lesions of the chronic respiratory disease, caused by Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Escherichia coli are always accompanied by serous lesions, mainly in the air sacs, and these E. coli lesions are always firmly attached to serosas. On the contrary in fowl typhoid the caseum are found completely free in the serosa, particularly in the intestinal omentum. Of course, the final diagnosis relies in the isolation of the aetiological agent but some of these clues may be useful. Best regards, Dr. Horacio Raúl Terzolo

Please correct; "On the contrary in fowl cholera the caseum are found completely free in the serosa, particularly in the intestinal omentum."

Dear Md. Zahid Hossain, After a flock suffers P. multocida infection, survivors acquire certain degree of natural immunity and for this reason the disease remains in the farm colonising the respiratory and intestinal tract of the chickens, which then become infective carriers continually excreting pasteurellas that contaminate the water and the environment in general and also the mice and wild birds as well as other surrounding domestic animals. In this way the disease is permanently exacerbated. When the infection is present, the autogenous bacterin could help a lot together with simultaneous hygienic and biosecurity measures. After two doses subcutaneous injection of the autogenous bacterin separated by 2-3 week intervals the disease may be controlled. Once it is controlled, it is advisable to prevent the disease vaccinating all entering new batches of chickens that are introduced into the farm. Combinations of this vaccine with a commercial one having all recognised serovars could give a broader coverture. When fowl cholera is not present a commercial standard bacterin is recommendable in broiler breeders not only to prevent the disease but to give maternal immunity to the offspring of the chickens, useful in the case the farm of broilers has not good standard of hygienic measures. The same could apply to egg breeders to protect the pullets during the first month of rearing. In general, the decision of vaccinate or not against fowl cholera depends upon application of strict biosecurity, hygiene and disinfection. But prevention is better if some danger of entrance of the infection exists. If the vaccine is dead or inactivated (bacterin) there is no danger of introducing the disease. Of course, up to now, to my knowledge, actual live vaccines are not recommended for chickens. Best regards, Dr. Horacio Raúl Terzolo

P M LESONS are that of septicemia such as cooked up appearence of liver withnecrotic foci on the whole surface,some times bleached liver mimicking afllotoxicosis,enlarged spleen,cogested lungs,pin point haemorrhages on heart;enlargement of sternal bursa ,severe congestion of duodenum,catarhal enteritis ofsmall intestines,ruptured ovaries and ovarian contents in the abdomen ,among all pathognomonic are liver lesions

Thank you sir.

Good comments for all but fowl cholera mainly need in thier immunization by cell mediated immunity and bacterin not produce this type of immunity so must be eturn to avirulent strains of pasterlla and put in mind routs of transmit ion as rodents flies and others also early vaccine and postering doses during 3 weeks

First of all thanks for such an informative article. I have a little querry that, Why male birds are more susceptible to this infection? Thanks.

Dear Muhammad Tahir Naseem, Your question is quite pertinent because it is well known that breeder males are more susceptible to get sick than females. I think that it may be due to the vigorous reproductive activity of the males as 1 male has to serve around 10 females of the flock. Anyway perhaps the susceptibility to infection is similar in both sexes but males are more prone to get sick than females due to this higher reproductive stress. Well, that is my own personal opinion. Best regards, Dr. Horacio Raúl Terzolo

Dear Yousef, Thank you for your important comment! Immunity against P. multocida is mediated by antibodies and complete protection is afforded using antigens homologous to the strain that is producing the outbreak. These homologous antibodies afford complete protection against challenge; antibodies raised against killed whole cell vaccines and monoclonal LPS antibodies can passively protect naïve birds. Additionally, in vivo expressed protein antigens are involved in cross-protective immunity. Passive immunity experiments performed with antisera raised against antigens expressed only by in vivo propagated P. multocida were able to protect naïve chickens against challenge. This strict homologous protection of bacterins is related to the LPS structure. Strains from the same serovar or LPS genotype produced a range of different but related LPS structures, so the variation is unlimited; therefore, it is quite possible that a bacterin elaborated with the same serovar of the strain producing an outbreak do not offer complete protection or even it does not protect at all. Additionally, there is evidence that cell-mediated immunity is also involved in immunity to P. multocida; cells and culture supernatant isolated from the spleens of chickens that had been vaccinated with a formalin-killed vaccine afforded protection to naïve birds. It has been recently demonstrated (Marina Harper et al., Vaccine 34, 2016,1696–1703) that novel aromatic P. multocida live vaccines produced protective immunity against challenge, independently from LPSs. This live vaccine affords cross protection against some strains of different LPS structure. Live vaccines for chickens is an active field of research. In this same forum (see before) Dr. Chris Morrow from Bioproperties, Australia, already explained us the existence of novel vaccines based on LPS genotyping. Until a live commercial vaccine for preventing all strains (homologous and heterologous) of fowl cholera in chickens will be available, we still have to depend on autogenous bacterins to effectively control severe outbreaks of the disease. Best regards, Dr. Horacio Raúl Terzolo

Dear Dr. Cherukuri Choudary, Thank you for sharing your experience about the lesions of this disease!

Thanks for ur response. As all of us know that starch medium is ideal for the growth of pasteurella. Is there any correlation between glycogen and pasteurella incidence in males?

Dear Muhammad Tahir Naseem, Starch improves the growth of many fastidious bacteria and in agars containing starch colonies are bigger and easier to isolate. For that reason, we choose Columbia agar plus 7% defibrinated bovine blood as a standard base culture media. Regarding your question, I have not information. Regards

Dear Dr. Bouayad, Thank for your interesting comment! Do you have any paper or scientific information about this subject? Best regards

Thanks for the previous response. But is Fowl typhoid associated with nodular hepatitis?

Dear Dr. Gbenga Abdullateef: Regarding Fowl Typhoid development of nodular lesions, please read: Fowl Typhoid in Laying Hens: Description of the disease and Protection Conferred by a Live Salmonella Enteritidis Vaccine Authors: Dr. Horacio Raúl Terzolo and Dr. Pablo Aníbal Chacana Publised on: 3 March, 2016 https://en.engormix.com/MA-poultry-industry/health/articles/fowl-typhoid-laying-hens-t3616/165-p0.htm

Dear Authors, Very comprehensive and informative article.. Thank you for gathering all information about Fowl cholera together.. According to surveillance study conducted by me and my colleague, somatic serotype 1, 3 and 1*3 are commonly found in my state (Maharashtra state, India). Especially serotype 1 is highly prevalent. So, use of serotype 1 and 3 only for autogenous vaccine development would be feasible? We have also noted that, the farms with poor hygienic conditions are very much susceptible to disease.. Thanks again.. Regards, Vihang Patil

Dear authors, Thank you for presenting such a informative article. How can I differentiate low pathogenic avian influenza from fowl cholera by post mortem examination.