orabase and Poultry-Diseases

The International Consortium on Anti-Virals (ICAV) is a nonprofit organization that aims to support the development of antivirals for life-threatening and emerging viruses. In recent years, ICAV's emphasis has been predominantly on tropical viruses and avian influenza. The Sixth International Symposium of the ICAV was held at Trent University, Peterborough, Canada, and at MaRs Discovery District, Toronto, Canada, 4-6 May 2008. Approximately 100 participants representing 12 countries attended the symposium. This meeting report focuses on two thought-provoking presentations on topics that require immediate attention: the development of potent broad-spectrum antivirals against emerging viruses and the assessment of the risk of a H5N1 influenza pandemic.

Topics: Animals; Antiviral Agents; Carboxymethylcellulose Sodium; Chickens; Communicable Diseases, Emerging; Disease Outbreaks; Humans; Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype; Influenza in Birds; Influenza, Human; Liposomes; Mice; Peptides; Poultry Diseases; Risk; Virus Diseases; Viruses

1. The effect of intestinal digesta viscosity on bird performance in chickens with coccidiosis was compared to those without coccidiosis. 2. Six hundred chicks were divided into five groups: one control group was fed a basal maize/soyabean-based diet and the other groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with 2, 4, 6 or 8 g carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) per kg of feed. At 14 d of age half the birds were individually inoculated with sporulated oocysts of Eimeria acervulina and Eimeria praecox. 3. Intestinal digesta viscosity increased with increasing inclusion of CMC. This effect was considerably less pronounced in inoculated than in non-inoculated birds. 4. There was a significant negative effect on live weight gain and feed conversion ratio (FCR) with increasing CMC inclusion in non-inoculated birds, but in inoculated birds there was no clear relation between CMC inclusion and performance. Neither intestinal lesion scores, nor numbers of Clostridium pefringens in the caeca, were significantly affected by CMC inclusion. 5. Across all diets inoculation impaired growth rate by 9% and FCR by 8%, but did not affect the amount of C. perfringens in the caeca.

Topics: Animals; Body Weight; Carboxymethylcellulose Sodium; Cecum; Chickens; Coccidiosis; Eating; Eimeria; Feces; Female; Gastrointestinal Contents; Parasite Egg Count; Poultry Diseases; Regression Analysis; Statistics, Nonparametric; Viscosity