Combining hard work in the laboratory with hard data from the field, poultry researchers, veterinarians and nutritionists are gaining new insights into gut diseases that affect commercial birds.

Some of the most intriguing, and potentially valuable, insights center around how several diseases commonly seen in broilers—coccidiosis, necrotic enteritis and gangrenous dermatitis, to name a few—interact with each other.

Specialists say that poultry producers who understand those disease interactions and, more importantly, factor them into their long-range planning, can further improve bird health and performance while reducing or even eliminating in-feed drugs.

To help the poultry industry meet this goal, Schering-Plough Animal Health sponsored "Intestinal Health 2007: Innovative Solutions for Clostridial Infections," a 2-day symposium held in Orlando that featured talks by several leading specialists in the field.

In this special report, CocciForum's Intestinal Health takes a closer look at what's been learned recently about intestinal disease interactions in poultry—and what they mean for broiler producers.

Please click here for direct links to the articles -

Hofacre: 'Necrotic enteritis...a big performance issue'


Schrader: 'Incidence of necrotic enteritis was significantly lower'


Collett: 'Avoid perfect conditions for necrotic enteritis to develop'


Broussard: 'Progeny from the vaccinated hens had 72% less chance of mortality'


Alfonso: 'We showed improvements in livability and feed conversion'


Collett: 'We've seen GD lesions develop from damage to intestinal mucosa'


Phillips: Is GD skin or gut related? Probably both


Roney: 'We've faced challenges with gangrenous dermatitis'

To listen to highlights from the symposium, go to the Podcasts section in the Newsroom on www.netvaxforpoultry.com and click on Podcasts.

Spring 2008

Regresar a North American Edition (#1)