Moving Forward- Breeding for Resistance to Marek's Disease

[tridentk9]

I wonder about taking blood from a vaccinated older chicken and injecting into , lets say, a chick. I'm sure there's a study on it.

Well I just sent Fern off to the lab.  You know it cost 18$ to pay online to overnight USPS and $33 at the post office!  I am sure to get the prelim this week.  I hope the vodka didn't hurt but formaldehyde doesn't hurt. 

It would confer some quick, temporary immunity. Plasma injections (or orally the first day) are done for neonatal pups in contact with parvo virus. You can order FFP- Fresh Frozen Plasma online. http://www.caninecryobank.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=14 The donor would have to be tested before each donation with a qPCR and kept away from potential carriers. Since the vaccination doesn't prevent the disease, the plasma from a vaccinated donor would *probably* act the same. But if you have access to a centrifuge it may be something more easily done by an owner than vaccination. Pull blood, centrifuge and freeze until needed. If done ahead of time you could run the qPCR then. LOL- a chicken blood bank! Use genetically immune lines and try for antibodies instead of vaccination. Hmmm.

If you tell them you administered vodka and when they should be able to compensate. LOL- vodka and animals does bring back some interesting yet life-saving memories.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: Oh, my, me, too! My parents bred AKC Dobermans. They were trying to save a puppy and were using bourbon to stimulate it. Someone left it in a small orange juice glass on the counter and stupid kid me, thinking it was juice, chugged it.

 

[seminolewind]

Here is a link to the Merck Vet Manual
http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/poultry/neoplasms/mareks_disease_in_poultry.html?qt=MDV&alt=sh

IF you check the last sentence in the paragraph "Transmission and Epidemiology" you will see the vertical transmission reference.



Once the virus is introduced into a chicken flock, regardless of vaccination status, infection spreads quickly from bird to bird. Infected chickens continue to be carriers for long periods and act as sources of infectious virus. Shedding of infectious virus can be reduced, but not prevented, by prior vaccination. Unlike virulent strains of Marek's disease virus, which are highly contagious, turkey herpesvirus is not readily transmissible among chickens (although it is easily transmitted among turkeys, its natural host). Attenuated Marek's disease virus strains vary greatly in their transmissibility among chickens; the most highly attenuated are not transmitted. Marek's disease virus is not vertically transmitted.



I'm not understanding this-can someone make this easier to understand for me? It sounds like a contradiction to me.

 

[seminolewind]

There's one of those words again-

Marek's disease is one of the most ubiquitous avian infections; it is identified in chicken flocks worldwide" segues right into this statement:
"Every flock, except for those maintained under strict pathogen-free conditions, is PRESUMED
be infected."


pre·sume (pr

-z

m

)
v. pre·sumed, pre·sum·ing, pre·sumes
v.tr.
1. To take for granted as being true in the absence of proof to the contrary: We presumed she was innocent.
2. To constitute reasonable evidence for assuming; appear to prove: A signed hotel bill presumes occupancy of a room.
3. To venture without authority or permission; dare: He presumed to invite himself to dinner.

(copied from some dictionary)'

If someone hatches chicks into a flock and the chicks live happily to adult hood, it is presumed that the flock did not have Marek's.

If someone hatches chicks into a flock and at 6 weeks or so, the chicks develop paralysis and wasting can it be presumed that the flock has Mareks?

If someone brings a pullet home, and 4-6 weeks or so later, a member or more your flock suffers some wasting or gray eye or paralysis , can it be presumed that the carrier was the new pullet?

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
Yes I listed all the treatments she got within the past few weeks.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
I had a Styrofoam cooler specifically for shipping food?? the first time and it came in a box marked Perishable. I bought that online-somewhere.
The 2nd one I used a refrigerated vaccine styro box that the silkie fit in.
This time I had to hack at a regular cooler to fit in a box, and tape it a lot and put it in 2 garbage bags plus a garbage bag inside the cooler plus a garbage bag outside the cooler , and used bubble wrap around it. It will not leak. I also put styrfoam around the outside of the cooler where it's taped together. The problem sometimes is finding the right size box to put the cooler in.

 

[speckledhen]

Well, let us know what they find out about my Fern's namesake.

Quote: I like this one. You would presume that about my own flock, in spite of whatever they think they find inside the hen.

Now, is there such a thing as a flock that suffers from ONLY visceral Marek's and never, in any bird of any age, shows the usual symptoms you'd expect from a positive flock? That isn't visceral, that's completely invisible!

 

[seminolewind]

There are no solid answers with Marek's . I've had all the symptoms in one bird, one symptom in others, and even a no symptom. I had one who I discovered had an oval pupil and wasting. The more symptoms match up, or are classic, the chances are better to be positive.

I will publish whatever I find with Fern.

 

[speckledhen]

There are no solid answers with Marek's . I've had all the symptoms in one bird, one symptom in others, and even a no symptom. I had one who I discovered had an oval pupil and wasting. The more symptoms match up, or are classic, the chances are better to be positive.

I will publish whatever I find with Fern.

But you've had the gamut of symptoms collectively. Sigh. I'm shutting down my brain for the night. Storm coming in so computer going down now.

 

[seminolewind]

Just remember, anyone aside from the pathologist says, anything else said or posted is possibly an educated guess, preceeded by maybe, possibly, unlikely, looks like, etc.

Read here to learn about the illness. I'm sure anyone's guess here would only lead to "get a necropsy". Nobody here can diagnose Mareks' without a microscope and pcr test . Maybe we should chip in and set Nambroth up, LOL. I think we listen to a member and guide them to the possibilities and what to do now.

You got your prelims and now have to wait for the final report. If it's negative, I would from now on vaccinate all incoming chicks, and no birds taken in, and if it's positive I would from now on vaccinate all incoming chicks and no birds taken in.

No matter what, do this

and this

and this

and this

now, but never do this

or this

or this

or this

.

And no matter what the outcome is do this

and do this

(educate), and vaccinate this

and think this

about this

.