Histomonosis in poultry: previous and current strategies for prevention and therapy.

Histomonosis in poultry: previous and current strategies for prevention and therapy. Avian Pathol. 2016 Sep 13;:1-43 Authors: Liebhart D, Ganas P, Sulejmanovic T, Hess M Abstract Histomonosis is a parasitic disease of poultry with worldwide prevalence. The disease can cause morbidity and mortality in chicken and turkey flocks entailing severe economic losses. In the first half of the last century there was a high demand to control histomonosis as the turkey industry was severely affected by the disease. Consequently, numerous chemical compounds were tested for their efficacy against H. meleagridis with varying outcomes, altogether summarized and specified in this review. At the same time, preliminary attempts to protect birds with cultured histomonads indicated the possibility of vaccination. Several years ago antihistomonal drugs were banned in countries with tight regulations on pharmaceuticals in order to comply with the demand of consumer protection. As a consequence, outbreaks of histomonosis in poultry flocks increased and the disease became again endemic. New approaches to prevent and treat histomonosis are therefore needed and recently performed studies focused on various areas to combat the disease, from alternative chemotherapeutic substances towards plant-derived compounds until vaccination, altogether reviewed here. Considering existing regulations and the overall outcome of experimental studies it can be concluded that v...
Source: Avian Pathology - Category: Pathology Authors: Tags: Avian Pathol Source Type: research