Vaccination more effective than anticoccidial drugs
Vaccination is a more effective way to control coccidiosis than drugs and may become less expensive in the future by making use of cross-protection between some Eimeria species, Herman Peek of the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, says in his doctoral thesis.
Peek demonstrated that on Dutch, German and Spanish poultry farms, the Eimeria parasites that cause coccidiosis are often resistant to anticoccidial drugs.
In contrast, vaccination has proved to be a very effective strategy against coccidiosis; in addition, there is an association between vaccinating with parasites sensitive to anticoccidials and a reduction in the number of resistant parasites on farms, Peek says in his thesis, entitled “Resistance to anticoccidial drugs: alternative strategies to control coccidiosis in broilers.”
Investigation of ibuprofen, protease and a prebiotic as coccidiosis-control methods indicated they have limited anticoccidial effects and cannot be considered effective alternatives to current treatments, Peek says in his thesis, according to a report on thepoultrysite.com.
He believes that it may eventually be possible to produce coccidiosis vaccines that are less expensive and more effective if further research can demonstrate cross-protection among Eimeria species, enabling fewer species to be included in coccidiosis vaccines or the dosage to be reduced. Broilers vaccinated at 1 day of age with an E. acervulina vaccine line had complete protection against a challenge with E. acervulina but also partial cross-protection against E. tenella; there was no protection against E. maxima, however, he says.
Peek points out that coccdiosis remains common, resulting in significant economic losses due to reduced feed-conversion efficiency, slower growth, increased mortality and expenditures for prevention and treatment.
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