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HAUNTING the poultry industry 

 today is the specter of a relatively 

 new respiratory-nervous system 

 malady known as Newcastle disease. 

 The name is derived from the city of 

 Newcastle in England where an out- 

 break occurred in 1927. 



The disease has received a great deal 

 of publicity but due to lack of factual 

 knowledge relating to the disease re- 

 cently attacking poultry flocks, some 

 confusion has arisen in the minds of 

 farmers who wish to know as much as 

 possible about this new malady. 



This article will attempt to clear up 

 some of the confusing thoughts on the 

 subject and is written with the hope 

 that it will answer some of the ques- 

 tions in the minds of poultry men. 



What is Newcastle disease? It is an 

 infectious condition involving princi- 

 pally the respiratory organs and the 

 central nervous system of chickens and 

 other fowl. In 1940 in California a 

 "respiratory nervous disorder" was re- 

 ported. In 1942 California reported a 

 condition they called avian pneumoen- 

 cephalitis. It appears fairly certain 

 that these conditions were actually 

 Newcastle disease. 



How prevalent is this disease? Ac- 

 cording to the latest reports it definitely 

 has been in 29 states, and reports sug- 

 gestive of the disease but not definitely 

 diagnosed have been received from sev- 

 eral other states. Illinois has had six 

 outbreaks, mostly in north and central 

 areas. It is logical to expect that addi- 

 tional outbreaks may occur as we enter 

 another season of hatching and raising 

 chicks. 



By OR. C. D. VAN HOUWELING, 



Director, 

 lAA Velarlnory Madicol Ralotlena 



Common symptoms are respiratory 

 and nervous disorders — coughing, 

 gasping for air and difficult breathing 

 as manifested by open beak breathing. 

 The nervous symptoms usually are lack 

 of muscular coordination and partial 

 or complete paralysis of one or both 

 legs and a peculiar distortion in the 

 position of the head. The symptoms 

 are quite similar in young chicks and 

 older birds. In adult flocks a marked 

 decrease in tgg production results. In 

 some cases this egg production will 

 drop to zero. 



How deadly is Newcastle disease to 

 injected chickens? The mortality varies 

 to a great extent. A sub-committee 

 from the National Newcastle Disease 

 Committee investigating in California 

 reported mortality ran as high as 80-90 

 per cent. There were instances, how- 

 ever, where the death loss was not ex- 

 pected to be more than 4 or 5 per cent, 

 but egg production had decreased from 

 70 per cent to 20 per cent in some 

 flocks. In one densely populated poul- 

 try area including 600,000 birds in 300 

 flocks, about 120,000, or 20 per cent 

 died of the disease in 1944. 



No specific treatment is known at 

 present. Control measures should in- 

 clude isolation of sick birds, proper dis- 

 posal of birds that have diea from the 

 disease, and a thorough cleaning and 

 disinfecting of houses and equipment. 

 A vaccine for the disease has been 

 used extensively in California and 

 seems to decrease the mortality rate 

 substantially and prevent some of the 

 decrease in egg production. Vacci- 

 nated birds also seem to come back into 

 production sooner than those which 

 have not been vaccinated. 



You may now be a little more fa- 

 miliar with Newcastle disease — what 

 it is, what its symptoms are, what it 

 does, and it may seem that there isn't 

 much you can do about it. So you prob- 

 ably wonder what authorities are doing 

 to combat this malady. 



I can report that the livestock disease 

 control agencies of the federal and 

 state governments are doing something 

 about it. The federal government, 

 through the Bureau of Animal Industry 



of the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 has organized a Newcastle disease re- 

 search program. This program will 

 cover five main fields of study, which 

 are: 



1. Determine the loss caused by the 

 disease in various states; and deter- 

 mine the efficiency of control meth- 

 ods; 



2. Develop an accurate, rapid diag- 

 nostic method or methods; 



3. Determine the value of various phys- 

 ical and chemical agents for destroy- 

 ing the virus which causes New- 

 castle disease; 



J 



4. Obtain more information on the 

 manner in which the disease spreads ; 



5. Prepare and test more effective vac- 

 cines. 



Your state government, through the 

 Division of Livestock Industry of the 

 State Department of Agriculture, has 

 five district veterinarians in Illinois who 

 are prepared to cooperate in the early 

 diagnosis and proper control of this 

 disease. These men are Dr. Roy A. 

 Thompson, Clinton; Dr. T. E. Palmer, 

 Casey; Dr. W. E. LeCroy, Fairfield, 

 Dr. L. B. Woods, Roodhouse; and Dr. 

 Rex Van Sickle, Orion. 



The College of Veterinary Medicine 

 of the University of Illinois has pub- 

 lished information pertaining to this 

 disease, and has established laboratory 

 facilities to assist in its diagnosis. The 

 college will assist the district veteri- 

 narians in making a positive diagnosis 

 when the malady is suspected. 



(Continued on page 21) 



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