I have some questions about Marek's disease and Laryngotracheitis and their vaccines.

[ozexpat]

its very easy to misconstrue a fellow bycer as aggressive when posts are so uni-dimensional. It can quickly spiral. Cochins started a great topic. I am glad its back on track.


Group hug time

 

[cochins1088]

its very easy to misconstrue a fellow bycer as aggressive when posts are so uni-dimensional. It can quickly spiral. Cochins started a great topic. I am glad its back on track.


Group hug time

This is very true. It's difficult to judge emotions without being able to see each other face to face. A post that was meant to be helpful could be misinterpreted as aggression.

I'm glad that the debate worked its self out. Now we all have a better understanding of Hypericum.

 

[Nambroth]

Rocks, I have my degree in molecular biology and I have studied viruses a lot. Hypericum doesn't kill the virus. There are very few antivirals which actually get rid of a virus once it has reached a certain titer (that refers to the concentration of the viral organisms in the body). Birds are so very stoic that once we actually notice that there is an infectious agent attacking them, it is usually so rampant in their bodies that they've actually reached a tipping point in their infection. The hypericum is either supressing the virus enough that your birds body is able to heal somewhat or it is allowing her body to heal faster than the virus can cause damage.

I am excited to hear that you and other people are having such success with hypericum and I would not be of the opinion that you should cull this lucky chicken. When I was a kid, Mareks was a slow, painful death sentence. The fact that this herbal tincture can reverse these horrible symptoms and prolong their quality of life is wonderful to hear. I don't know enough about the virus which causes Mareks to say whether it will go into some kind of permanent remission or if you will need to keep her on the tincture for the rest of her life. But I do know that Mareks is a very unique virus in the way that it is passed from one chicken to another. I would assume that all of your affected birds contemporaries have already been exposed to mareks so putting her back with your flock shouldn't make a difference, but if you get or hatch any new birds, might I suggest that you make sure that they are vaccinated for mareks before exposing them to your existing flock.

Marek's is a alphaherpesvirus, and inserts itself into RNA and create latency, so it has the ability to live in the host indefinitely.

 

[ChicknsRock]

Are you a member of the Cape Fear Poultry Club?

No. never heard of it. What is it? I have a part Arab part Quarter horse. I also had a TWH.

 

[seminolewind]

I have a TWH!

I think you all are right in saying that posting has no inflexion. It doesn't tell you how someone is saying something.

I think that most of us feel that anything is worth trying. Marek's is a hard disease to accept when your beloved pet is afflicted. Sad, helpless, possibly guilty, it's emotionally overwhelming.

Worst of all , false hope can be torturous . I've seen people blame themselves for not mixing the SJW correctly, etc. , but it hurts to see others blame themselves for it not working.

It is not a cure. With or without symptoms, the chicken is a carrier and will infect every other chicken in the flock. I myself have had several that were wasting go into remission as I fed them French Toast every day. I have had one vaccinated 8 week old have paralysis and recover 6 weeks later. Marek's has no rules. Worst, the symptoms can mimic many other illnesses out there. I'm sure sometimes there's things some try that do improve quality of life for a while.

 

[rbaker0345]

No. never heard of it. What is it? I have a part Arab part Quarter horse. I also had a TWH

Cape fear poultry club is a club for poultry lovers in East NC. Let me know if you want the website info.