The virus has two serotypes (1 and 2 variations) and the clinical disease is related only to serotype 1, so all vaccines are produced on the basis of this serotype; in the outside environment, it is highly resistant: it is not easily destroyed by ultraviolet radiation from sunlight or special ultraviolet lamps.
The virus may remain active on the surface, working tools or staff clothes for more than 120 days and in food or water residues for up to 60 days. Low temperatures and freezing can be long-lasting. When exposed to iodine (5-10 per cent) or phenol solutions (1%) for up to one hour, it ceases to reproduce but remains viable. If treated over longer, it dies. The virus is sensitive to phenol, formaldehyde, caustic and high temperatures, slightly less sensitive to chloramine and many modern deinfectants. High temperatures can kill or render the virus harmless. For example, when boiled, the virus dies within minutes, if heated to +70, kills 20 minutes. Even heating to +56 will help to remove the virus in five hours, and to +60 in an hour and a half.
How does the virus get into the herd? The direct transmission of the virus from the parent chicken population is unlikely, since infectious burceal disease is mostly chicken, but the bird does not have the virus in its body at the beginning of the egg-forming, so it is likely that the virus is being introduced into the synantropic or wild bird farm or through mechanical transmission, through personnel and equipment. It is worth noting that the virus can increase its virulence if there is an IBB circulation in the herd.
Interestingly, the origin of the virus that caused the first outbreak of IBB in 1957 in Gamboro, Delaware, U.S.A., has not yet been established, but it is clear that there are virtually no industrial poultry plants that would have encountered this problem to date; moreover, because of the ability of the virus to mutate, the continuous monitoring of the herd and operational preventive measures are a very important step in bird farms.
Infectional bursal disease is particularly dangerous because it causes severe immunodepressive conditions during the sub-clining period, and with poor prevention and other infectious diseases, there is a significant loss of productivity and economic damage to the entire enterprise; in turn, the sub-clinical flow of Hamboro disease leads to the breeding of the bird into a live-weight herd and to a decline in the quality of the carcass in meat production.
Since the Gamboro virus is highly resistant and contagious, the prevention of the disease must be based on three mandatory operations:
For chickens, vaccines are used both in the incubator using an injector (vector or integrated vaccines, "in ovo" method) and in the workplace by a drinking method (living vaccines).
Attention should be paid to the age of birds when vaccinations with live vaccines, as maternal antibodies can neutralize the effects of the vaccine in chickens, but too late vaccinations will not prevent infection with a field virus.
Serological methods are widely used to diagnose the IBB, monitor immunization and calculate the optimal time for vaccination. Among many serological methods for diagnosis and monitoring, ELISA tests remain the most popular because of their availability on the market, ease in producing the test, accuracy and reliability.
The gold standard for calculating the date of vaccination against IBB remains the neutralisation response, but this test requires a equipped laboratory, with some experience and skills.
In 1990, the Deventer Laboratory (GD Annual Health) developed a formula that calculates the half-life of the antibodies for the correct setting of the vaccination scheme. The number of maternal antibodies (mothernal derived antibodies, MDA) is different in different chickens. The reduction of the MDA is a factor in metabolism and growth rate of the chicken. The "golden standard" response to neutralization results in half-life between 3 and 3.5 days for broilers, 4 to 4.5 days for breeding birds and about 5.5 days for nonsense. The Deventer Formula applies to the calculation of the half-life of the mother's antibodies in ELISA, provided that there is a high correlation with the neutralisation test.
Innovative Diagnostics, in developing the ID Screen. IBD Direct for the Hamboro disease test, performed a validation and calculation procedure with the GD Anamal Health Laboratory. The data analysed gave 99 per cent of the match to target chips; thus, the company provided an accessible commercial set to the market that accurately calculated the optimal days for the farm vaccination program.
For ease of reference, the company has developed an ID SOFT software application that allows for a quick, automatic calculation of the date of vaccination of the bird, taking into account the target number of the vaccine, age and type of the bird, and the day of blood extraction. Of course, this set will also allow for the assessment of immunity from living or activated vaccines, and the specialist will be able to compare the data with the target values, thus obtaining a near complete picture and developing a strategy to further prevent the disease. The ID Screen\IBD Index sets up a study not only on blood serum but also on egg yolk. It is therefore possible to estimate the level of immunization of the parent population without further stress of the bears.
It is important to note that seroconversion in vector vaccines is not the same as in live or activated vaccines, and a set of ID Screen~ IBD VP2 has been developed specifically to assess immunity tensions following vector vaccines.
Technical Director
VET FAKTOR LLC
Krasnobaev Yuri Valerjevic
The company's specialists work with the farms through an official representative in Russia – VET FAKTOR. VET FAKTOR regularly organizes seminars and training sessions on professional skills; therefore, clients using Innovative Diagnostics always quickly receive answers to questions, verified, reliable information.
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