Usually our minds and menus turn to turkey in October or December, not mid-winter. But a new vaccine reminds us of how important their health is year-round. The vaccine, developed by a University of Minnesota scientist in collaboration with scientists of the Biomune Company, protects turkeys from a severe respiratory disease caused by avian pneumovirus. The vaccine has been recently approved by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for sale in the Midwest and is now available to turkey growers in Minnesota, the largest turkey producing state in the United States, as well as in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
This news is significant for those Canadians with an interest in this area, as the disease moves fast. “This disease spreads quickly through turkey flocks and is devastating to turkey growers in Minnesota, costing them roughly $15 million dollars a year,” says Sagar M. Goyal, professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota. “We knew isolating the virus was the first step toward developing a vaccine, and that's exactly what we did. We isolated the virus from diseased turkeys in 1997 and almost immediately began the process of weakening the virus for the purposes of developing a live vaccine against this disease.” The results of this study are published in the August 2002 issue of Avian Pathology.
The respiratory disease was first discovered in South Africa in 1978 and spread to European countries by the mid-1980s. Cases in the United States were detected in flocks in Colorado in 1996, and by the following year, the disease had arrived in Minnesota.
The virus causes acute rhinotracheitis characterized by coughing, nasal discharge, tracheal rales, foamy conjunctitivits, and sinusitis. In uncomplicated cases, the mortality rate is 2% to 5%, but it can go up to 25% in the presence of secondary infection with bacteria. In laying birds, there is a temporary drop in egg production, along with mild respiratory illness. This disease does not affect humans.
For more information on the vaccine, which is administered to the flocks through drinking water or eye drops, contact Miguel Escobar, DVM, at the Biomune Company at (913) 894-0230.
