Organic poultry production in the Netherlands is developing. Although consumers assume organic products to be safer and healthier, there are aspects of organic animal husbandry, like access to an outdoor run, that can result in increased risks of food safety problems. The aim of this study was to compare housing and management of organic and conventional broiler farms in the Netherlands and to ...

It has been demonstrated that horizontal and vertical transmission of Salmonella and Campylobacter can occur in broiler breeder flocks. The mechanism of this transmission is still unclear. Previously negative broiler breeder flocks have been reported to become positive with Salmonella, Campylobacter, or both after the introduction of "spike" roosters at 45 wk of age. To determine whether the ro...

The prevention and control of Campylobacter colonization of poultry flocks are important public health strategies for the control of human campylobacteriosis. A critical review of the literature on interventions to control Campylobacter in poultry on farms was undertaken using a systematic approach. Although the focus of the review was on aspects appropriate to the United Kingdom poultry indust...

This report describes an outbreak of an acute, highly lethal, Newcastle Disease (ND) in two broiler flocks that were intensively managed and vaccinated against Newcastle disease. The broiler flocks (325) were four weeks and (450) were six weeks old at the time of the outbreak. Clinical characteristics of the disease included a 100% morbidity, increasing high mortality i.e. 40 birds (day one), 7...

In 2003, Brazil was recognized as a pathogenic Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) strain-free country for commercial poultry. This research was conducted in Brazil between December 2003 and March 2005 to verify the maintenance of this virulent NDV-free status. Serum samples from 5,455 flocks for commercial poultry farms were collected, comprising 81,825 broiler chickens. The farms were located in ni...

CIAV infection in chicken flocks has been described in most countries with a developed chicken industry and can result in economically important clinical or subclinical disease in broiler chickens. In this study sera samples from 46 poultry flocks in Sharekord area, Iran, were tested for the presence of chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV) antibodies using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosor...

There is considerable global concern over the newly emergent H5N1 strain of avian influenza that has affected millions of domestic poultry flocks and resulted in 256 human cases and 152 deaths in humans. There has been little analysis of the general assumption that smallholder backyard poultry flocks are inherently at higher risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) than confined and com...

Cecal droppings from four commercial turkey flocks (two flocks of hens and two flocks of toms) were analyzed for the presence of naturally occurring salmonellae at ages 6, 10, and 15 weeks and for the presence of Campylobacter spp. at ages 3, 6, 10, and 15 weeks. The salmonellae contamination rates in these turkey flocks appeared to be somewhat different from that observed in broiler production...

Twenty north Georgia commercial flocks of broiler chickens sampled in 1995 and 11 flocks sampled in 2001 were tested for Campylobacter spp. Direct plating on Campy-Cefex agar was carried out to determine levels of Campylobacter colonization within each flock through the enumeration of the organism in 50 fresh fecal samples 1 day prior to slaughter. The next morning, these flocks were the first ...

Between February 2000 and October 2001, cloacal swabs were collected from 387 broiler chicken flocks in Northern Ireland. Campylobacter isolates from the 262 positive flocks were tested with common antimicrobial agents using a disc diffusion method and by Etests. Resistance to erythromycin, gentamicin and chloramphenicol was <1%, whereas for ampicillin, nalidixic acid and tetracycline, resistan...