In Ovo and Day of Hatch Application of a Live Infectious Bursal Disease Virus Vaccine to Commercial Broilers

Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is an economically important disease of young chickens caused by an Avibirnavirus, the infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). The causative virus is highly resilient in poultry environments and vaccination is the most effective measure for IBDV control. However, both the suspected neutralization of highly attenuated strains by maternal antibodies and the assumed virulence of partly attenuated strains have limited the implementation of conventional live IBDV vaccine strains in pre- and posthatch chicks. Nevertheless, preliminary data have raised questions about the validity of this prevailing dogma. To investigate the possible application of a live IBDV intermediate plus vaccine strain, the IBDV MB-1, to maternally immunized chicken embryos and day-of-hatch chicks, four large-scale field trials have been conducted in distinct global locations. The four trials have measured the relative safety, IBDV immunization parameters, and production performances of MB-1 vs. the established live and immune complex IBDV vaccines in a variety of commercial broiler systems. The overall health and production performances in all four trials have been similar or better in the MB-1 groups. The results challenge the prevailing notion that live IBDV strains may be neutralized or break through maternal immunity and induce permanent damage to the young broiler chick's immune response. A delayed replication phenomenon following parenteral administration of the live IBDV vaccine strain has been observed, while the delayed replication mechanism remains to be elucidated. This study's findings warrant further investigation of conventional live IBDV vaccine strains as an alternative for pre- and posthatch broilers active immunization.

Abstract published in Avian Diseases 63(4), 713-720, (27 June 2019). https://doi.org/10.1637/aviandiseases-D-19-00087.