Location: Exotic & Emerging Avian Viral Diseases Research
Project Number: 6040-32000-066-052-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Dec 1, 2018
End Date: Jan 31, 2021
Objective:
To elucidate the local deposition of respiratory diseases of poultry and to identify the optimal environmental sample collection strategies for respiratory diseases of poultry.
Approach:
Viral respiratory diseases cause substantial production losses among commercial poultry world wide. Data are currently lacking on the best approaches to confirm adequate decontamination of a premises after an outbreak. Cleaning and disinfection (C&D) are very expensive, therefore understanding where virus is deposited within a farm will lead to more efficient practices by streamlining the process. Also, in many cases verifying successful C&D is necessary before re-stocking a premises, but the testing methods need to be improved. To address these needs, infectious bronchitis virus, a common respiratory virus in chickens, will be used as a representative agent. Chickens will be vaccinated and challenged in an established model. Environmental and air samples will be collected from selected target locations within the houses at different stages of infection and after the termination of the experiment. Virus recovery among the different sample locations and times, collection methods and virus deposition among different vaccine treatment groups and controls will be compared.
