By Mallory Pfeifer
TVMDL manages two poultry programs. The Texas Pullorum-Typhoid (PT) Program’s mission is to control and eradicate pullorum disease (Salmonella pullorum) and fowl typhoid (Salmonella gallinarum) in poultry flocks in Texas and maintain Texas as a U.S. Pullorum-Typhoid Clean State. This program requires all domestic poultry offered for sale, trade, or used to produce offspring to be tested for pullorum and typhoid and found free of infection. All poultry going to public exhibition or public sale must be found free of infection or originate from a certified clean flock. Testing for the Texas PT Program is performed by Authorized Testers certified through the Program and inspectors from the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC). Testers use a rapid whole blood field test and submit results to the College Station lab. Following receipt of negative results, the Texas PT Program will issue flock owners a certificate validating their PT-Clean status. Flock owners may also utilize the services of a veterinarian in lieu of testers, though the testing is different. Veterinarians collect serum samples from flocks and submit samples to one of TVMDL’s poultry laboratories in Center or Gonzales for plate agglutination or tube agglutination testing.
The second program managed at TVMDL is the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP). NPIP was established in the early 1930s to provide cooperative industry, state, and federal support for new diagnostic technology that can be effectively applied to the improvement of poultry and poultry products. The program was initiated to help eliminate the spread of pullorum disease, which was rampant in the poultry industry and could cause upwards of 80% mortality in baby poultry. Today, diseases included in the program are Mycoplasma gallisepticum, Mycoplasma synoviae, Mycoplasma meleagridis, and avian influenza. Freedom from specific diseases is completed through surveillance testing during the life of the flock. Participants range from primary commercial breeder stock to backyard flocks with varying types of poultry in between.
Backyard flock participants (Subpart E – Hobbyist and Exhibition Poultry and Raised-for-Release Waterfowl Breeding Flocks and Products) may benefit from joining NPIP. Major benefits include program recognition, standard terminology for disease classification for all participants, international recognition, listing in a USDA-VS publication, and assistance in product movement and sales. All participants are required to have their flock tested for Pullorum-Typhoid annually. Participants may also earn the U.S. H5/H7 Avian Influenza Clean status. Although this is an optional disease classification for participants to earn, some states require it for import. A backyard participant in Texas may enroll in this status with the assistance of their veterinarian. The veterinarian must collect at least 30 swab and serum samples from the flock and submit them to the Center, College Station, or Gonzales laboratories for avian influenza testing.
Avian influenza is an influenza Type A virus that can live in birds. This virus notoriously lives in wild waterfowl and usually does not cause mortality or morbidity in these species. Waterfowl shed the virus through feces, and this is where most infections in domestic poultry are introduced. Domestic poultry allowed to comingle with wild waterfowl typically become infected with the virus within a few days, often leading to high death loss, decreased egg production, decreased food and water intake, and respiratory symptoms. Tracheal, oropharyngeal/choanal, or cloacal (for waterfowl) swabs can be submitted to TVMDL for PCR testing to detect the presence of avian influenza. Additionally, freshly dead or euthanized birds can be submitted for necropsy.
Source : tamu.edu