Coccidiosis in poultry: review on diagnosis, control, prevention and interaction with overall gut health

Coccidiosis in poultry is still considered as one of the main diseases affecting performance of poultry reared under intensive production systems. Although a lot of research efforts have been allocated towards molecular techniques, and a lot of progress has been noted in this field, practical use of these techniques are not available today, except in the field of diagnostics, where several polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for chicken Eimeria spp. are available today albeit not yet commonly used. On the other hand, with currently available diagnostic methods such as oocyst counts and lesion scoring, an interpretation of the impact of (subclinical) coccidiosis is not easy. Another problem difficult to address with currently available tools, is the interpretation of the efficacy of an anticoccidial program. Anticoccidial sensitivity testing is the only reproducible method available today, but interpretation is far from easy. The result of all this is that, although coccidiosis is not, by some, perceived as a major problem in poultry production, economical impact of coccidiosis is most probably underestimated and optimisation of anticoccidial programmes might be advantageous to the broiler industry. In addition to this, a link between subclinical coccidiosis and bacterial enteritis complicates choosing the right tools and strategy for poultry producers. Implementing sound shuttle and rotation programs can be part of the answer in order to not only control clinical, but also subclinical coccidiosis. ______________________________________________________________________________