A live vaccine is safe and efficient to protect poultry against histomonosis

Abstract

The protozoan parasite Histomonas meleagridis is the aetiological agent of histomonosis, a highly fatal disease in turkeys with less mortality in chickens. Following the ban of licensed drugs to be used for prophylactic and therapeutic treatment the number of outbreaks increased in recent years, without any suitable and legal option to combat the disease. In various cases the whole flock had to be killed in order to reduce suffering of animals highlighting the importance histomonosis has gained also in the light of animal welfare. Considering the difficulties for licensing new drugs to be used in food producing animals, vaccination would be a new option to combat the disease. In the following presentation the efforts are consecutively presented leading to a safe and efficient vaccine, without any side effects on health and performance of birds. This vaccine could be the basis to prevent suffering and loss of animals due to a non-treatable disease.