How Bacteria cusaing respistory disease tranmits after using antibiotic

[nugget2000]

Hi,

I have read that birds with respitory desease can be carriers for life. My question is do they transmit itto other birds even when they are treated and have no signs? Also, is there diseases contagious even when it has been treated and is is in remission?

I have always been under impresssion that some Viruses live in their host body for life and never bacteria after being killed. At the same time I have read that some bacteria infections in chickens that cause respistory diesease stay with them for the rest of their lives and it just goes into remission. How bacteria after using Antibiotic will still stay in the host's system? Antibiotic should kill them all. Am I right?

 

[QueenMisha]

Depends on the specific type of disease you are talking about. If by "bacterium" you mean Mycoplasma, yes, treatment with antibiotics like Denagard or Duramycin will only mask the symptoms. Birds who were ill and have now recovered or even birds who never showed signs of sickness can still transmit the disease. Any flock that has had Mycoplasma in the past will continue to carry it indefinitely or until a point in time at which the flock is culled and the grounds left bare for several months.

 

[Blue Smoke]

There are some bacterial infections that will continue to be an issue for the life of the chicken/infected flock even after antibiotic treatment and apparent recovery. They will be carriers for life and will infect any new birds you bring in, it also passes vertically (from hen to chick thru egg.) Mycoplasma (MG, MS) is just one, there is also infectious bronchitis (IB,) infectious coryza, infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT,) Salmonella, and more. Stress triggers symptoms so adding or subtracting flock mates, moving coops, and any change in their daily activities can possibly trigger symptoms again.

There are a few options as far as treating and keeping a closed flock, or culling and starting over. If you have just a backyard flock for eggs it wouldn't really matter the route you choose. However if you have a breeding operation, it would be wise to cull and start over or you are going to infect someone else's flock, which is unethical IMO.

Something to note is that most of these infections also have an affect on egg production, your birds won't lay as well as an uninfected flock.