The purpose of the present study was to determine if supplementation of ascorbic acid (AA) to the diet would have a beneficial effect on infectious bursal disease (IBD) vaccination of chickens for protection against infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) infection. Two hundred forty specific pathogen-free (SPF) chickens were divided into eight experimental groups. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial arrangem...

Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is an important immunosuppressive disease of chickens. The causative agent, infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), consists of two serotypes, 1 and 2. Serotype 1 consists of classic IBDV (cIBDV) and variant IBDV (vIBDV). Both of these strains vary in antigenicity and pathogenesis. The goal of this study was to compare the immunopathogenesis of cIBDV and vIBDV. T...

An assay protocol based on single-tube, noninterrupted reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for the detection of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) is described. After the conditions for RT-PCR had been optimized, a primer set framing a region within the gene coding for IBDV VP2 protein was used to amplify a 318-bp fragment of the IBDV genome. Amplified product was detected with three strains...

In an outbreak of concurrent infectious bursal disease (IBD) and caecal coccidiosis in a flock of 45 Nigerian indigenous chickens comprising of 36 unsexed 29 days old chicks and 9 adult hens, 75 per cent mortality was recorded. The adult hens were not affected.

• Listeria monocytogenes causing abortion and iritis in cattle and abortion, encephalitis and enteritis in sheep • Severe outbreak of MCF investigated • Strep. uberis the most common isolate from mastitis submissions • High post-weaning mortality in pigs investigated • Infectious Bursal Disease causes losses in a flock of 89 week old layer pullets • Further deaths of wild birds associated with ...

Venipuncture was performed on 50 adult, free-ranging waved albatrosses (Phoebastria irrorata) on Española, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, to establish hematologic and plasma biochemistry reference ranges and to determine the prevalence of exposure to important domestic avian pathogens. Weights and plasma creatine phosphokinase activities differed significantly between males and females. Serum was ...

Sera from nine out of 30 (30.0%) apparently healthy unvaccinated indigenous (Tswana) chickens had precipitating antibodies to infectious bursal disease (IBD) virus using the agar gel precipitation test. Similarly, sera from 11 out of 49 (22.4%) chickens of exotic breeds with no history of vaccination against IBD were positive for antibodies against the virus.

Twenty-two infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) strains were examined using the reverse transcriptase/polymerase chain reaction-restriction endonuclease (RT/PCR-RE) assay. A 394-bp fragment of the VP2 gene was amplified and tested for six different restriction enzyme sites. Although the EcoRII enzyme was used in previous RT/PCR-RE assays, results obtained using the isoschizomer BstNI were mor...

This study examined flock size and management, level of internal and external parasite burden and seroprevalence of antibodies to poultry pathogens in indigenous chickens in Bokaa village, Kgatleng district, Botswana. The mean flock size was 22.6 +/- 6.85 with a range of 11-34. The mean body weights of cocks and hens were 2.28 +/- 0.56 kg and 1.70 +/- 0.38 kg, respectively. Housing and commerci...