Diseases Of Chickens. Infectious. Part 2

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Infectious diseases of chickens and chickens, in particular, include bacterial diseases. Bacterial diseases, as the name implies, are caused by the ingestion of pathogenic bacteria. The most common among chickens are such bacterial diseases as salmonellosis, tuberculosis, pasteurellosis, staphylococcosis

Salmonellosis

Salmonellosis young growth is most susceptible. This infectious disease is caused by the bacteria Salmonella, a family of enterobacteriaceae. In two-week-old youngsters, it manifests itself with symptoms of gastroenteritis, proceeds in a septic form, causing death in almost 15%. Adults carry the disease in a chronic form, rarely in an acute one. At the same time, individuals who have recovered remain carriers for life, and infect young animals through an egg. The pathogen enters the body through contaminated food, water, multiplies in the small intestine, populating the large one. Also, bacteria infect the lymph nodes, entering the bloodstream, which subsequently causes kidney damage and necrosis of liver cells. Death occurs from sepsis, dehydration, there are also options in which joints, brain, lungs and other organs are affected. For treatment, antibacterial drugs are used, to which the pathogen is sensitive, however, the treatment gives positive results only at the stage of the incubation period and the early stage. A bird with pronounced symptoms and weakened is discarded and destroyed.

Disease prevention:

• strict quarantine of dysfunctional farms, • timely culling of young animals, • thermal disposal of incubation waste, • sanitation of feed, • sanitation of egg shells before incubation, • disinfection treatment of incubators, containers, cells, even transport, • young animals are assigned probiotics in the first feeding.

Tuberculosis

Causative agent

tuberculosis birds is the bacterium Mycobacterium avium. Despite the fact that tuberculosis of birds is chronic and does not cause mass death, the fight against this disease is mandatory. In chicks, death can occur within 2 months, but more often they live for a long time. In an infected bird, with a good appetite, weight decreases, egg production, general depression, subcutaneous fat practically disappears, pectoral muscles are depleted, the chest is often deformed, the head seems smaller than that of healthy relatives. The plumage is disheveled, dull, unkempt, and the combs and catkins are anemic. With severe damage to the liver and spleen, diarrhea appears. The danger of avian tuberculosis also lies in the fact that sheep and pigs are susceptible to it, and for cattle it is a sensitizing infection (that is, it dulls the immunity to tuberculosis of mammals and, in case of contact, infection is guaranteed with a probability of 100%). There were also noted a few facts of isolation in people with tuberculosis, namely, tuberculosis of birds. Effective treatment for tuberculosis of birds is very long (up to one and a half years) and expensive, therefore, from an economic point of view, it is more rational to cull birds.

Standard quarantine measures are carried out:

• thorough cleaning and disinfection of the premises up to the change of the place of detention, since the tubercle bacillus can live in the soil for a long time, • complete rejection of used equipment, cages, nests, • birds, conditionally healthy, in contact with sick, are kept in quarantine for 60 days, • chickens are vaccinated with anti-tuberculosis vaccine, • contact of other pets with newly introduced birds should be avoided.

Pasteurellosis

Pasteurellosis - a disease affecting mainly young animals at the age of 2-4 months, arising from infection with Pasteurella bacteria. The disease often proceeds in a subacute and chronic form (death occurs approximately after 2 weeks), however, if the conditions of detention are violated, acute forms occur, and then the death of chickens occurs in the interval from 12 hours to 3 days. Most often, the disease is introduced with a new bird, but infection is also possible through contact with a wild bird. The main symptoms are bubbling fluid from the nasopharynx, gray diarrhea interspersed with blood, fever up to 43 ° C, general depression, lethargy, lameness. After a while, pulmonary wheezing, darkening of the chin and ridge appear. Treatment of pasteurellosis consists in the use of antibiotics, probiotics, but, according to the norms of sanitary and epidemiological stations, sick poultry must be slaughtered and standard quarantine measures are announced, as in the case of tuberculosis.

Staphylococcosis

Staphylococcosis chickens occurs by contact with infected birds, as well as by poor-quality processing of incubator cabinets. Infection occurs through food, water, equipment, as well as through open wounds. The main symptoms are numerous septic inflammations, with ulcers and scabs, inflammation of all joints and gangrene of the wings. The disease is acute, sometimes chronically. Since the staphylococcus bacterium produces strong toxins in the host's body, eating poultry, even with mild symptoms and manifestations, is contraindicated and can cause poisoning even with maximum heat treatment. Before the appointment of treatment, an antibioticogram is performed and on its basis, treatment is prescribed. Standard quarantine measures are also carried out.