Not an Emergency...Marek's in the Flock

[julie0477]

I did read one actual study about the herb as an antiviral in chickens. I don't think the virus was mareks, though. I'll see if I can find it and post it here. It was interesting. I posted it awhile back in another thread.

 

[julie0477]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3384280/

"Hypericum perforatum extract (HPE) has been proved a drug effective to many viral diseases. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the therapeutic efficacy and immuno-enhancement of HPE for chickens which were already challenged with infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV BC-6/85). Chickens infected with IBDV were treated with HPE for 5 consecutive days, the observation of immune organ indexes and pathological changes index, determination of IFN-α and detection of IBDV with RT-PCR were employed to assess in vivo whether or not HPE had the certain therapeutic efficacy on infectious bursal disease (IBD), and if HPE was able to improve the immunologic function. The results showed that 1330 and 667.9 mg/kg body weight (BW) per day of HPE had significant therapeutic efficacy and improvement immunologic functions for chickens infected experimentally with IBDV."

The above is an exert from a study regarding hypericum. Again, not specific to mareks, but interesting information none the less. Mareks is caused by a virus after all.

 

[seminolewind]

I have read the St. John's Wort thread(s) and I really want it to be true. I'm not against trying it, but until I have "seen" (read) that it works in a Marek's confirmed bird, I remain sadly skeptical.

X2. I would really appreciate if we could stay on topic and not turn it into St. John's wart thread. There is another thread for that. Like Nambroth, there is no evidence it is a cure, and does not belong here. On the SJW thread, the word "Cure" was removed from the title. It was felt that it's not appropriate to call it a cure . I personally felt that it was misleading and attracted a lot of sad desperate people to hope when it was never proven medically. I had read the thread and found so many people used it and the birds died and they blamed themselves making a mistake with the recipe.

I'm not against trying it, but I think some of us feel that it does not belong in this thread.

 

[Nambroth]

I don't want to completely dismiss the St. John's Wort, as I am open minded about alternative medicines, but at the same time I do not wish to give people with Marek's (confirmed Marek's) false hope. At this time, there is no known cure for Marek's. That said, I agree-- if we turn this thread into a St. John's Wort argument then this thread might be doomed. Let's not do that.

Therefore, if I may suggest...

To anyone using this thread as a Marek's Educational Thread:
It is suggested that St. John's Wort may help, or may not help. At the time of posting this, I personally have not seen evidence that it has helped a confirmed Marek's positive bird.
Proceed with an open mind, but with caution and don't get hopes up!
It probably won't hurt to try, but it is very important that you know what disease you are battling before trying, and do not overdose.
If you are interested, there is a thread for it here, and the following thread is the best place for discussion: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/135247/st-johns-wort

For now, unless some evidence comes forth (which I truly welcome), with respect, we should probably keep this thread to discussing other aspects of Marek's.

 

[seminolewind]

I don't want to completely dismiss the St. John's Wort, as I am open minded about alternative medicines, but at the same time I do not wish to give people with Marek's (confirmed Marek's) false hope. At this time, there is no known cure for Marek's. That said, I agree-- if we turn this thread into a St. John's Wort argument then this thread might be doomed. Let's not do that.

Therefore, if I may suggest...

To anyone using this thread as a Marek's Educational Thread:
It is suggested that St. John's Wort may help, or may not help. At the time of posting this, I personally have not seen evidence that it has helped a confirmed Marek's positive bird.
Proceed with an open mind, but with caution and don't get hopes up!
It probably won't hurt to try, but it is very important that you know what disease you are battling before trying, and do not overdose.
If you are interested, there is a thread for it here, and the following thread is the best place for discussion: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/135247/st-johns-wort

For now, unless some evidence comes forth (which I truly welcome), with respect, we should probably keep this thread to discussing other aspects of Marek's.

Nambroth, that was very nicely said. I wish that there was something out there , Anything that would have saved me from crying and chicken funerals for the last 3 years. I had started out with funerals all over the yard, but , because of the amount of deceased birds, I now need to bury in rows.

 

[schnebbles]

Today I ordered vaccine from first state vet supply - I got to talk to Peter Brown (I thought that was great!) - he said that the vaccine he sells stop/slow and possibly reverse tumors. I'm giving to all of my birds, including the paralyzed leg one. He said it could help her. I sure hope this works. he was really informative and very nice to speak with. I won't have the vaccine til Tues/Wed tho because it has to ship 2day and so it has to wait til Monday to ship.

I know 99% seem to say it won't work in older birds but I think it's worth a try for sure.

 

[Nambroth]

Today I ordered vaccine from first state vet supply - I got to talk to Peter Brown (I thought that was great!) - he said that the vaccine he sells stop/slow and possibly reverse tumors. I'm giving to all of my birds, including the paralyzed leg one. He said it could help her. I sure hope this works. he was really informative and very nice to speak with. I won't have the vaccine til Tues/Wed tho because it has to ship 2day and so it has to wait til Monday to ship.

I know 99% seem to say it won't work in older birds but I think it's worth a try for sure.

Well, it can't hurt, at least! I am interested to hear your results!

Did he say which strain(s) his vaccine is most effective on? I know a few folks here seem to have a mutated strain in their flocks, which I suspect not much can help right now, though I know the industry is working on new vaccines.

 

[schnebbles]

we did talk about strains and people wanting to know which one and he said that's almost impossible unless you test your chickens. It sounds like that is very complex. So no, I don't know what strain but I sure hope it works. It was $55 and I got 20 syringes too, so that's not too bad.

 

[seminolewind]

$20.00 plus shipping thru Twincitiespoultry.com

Re: vaccinating adults. (Am I beating a dead horse?)

The vaccine gives a "safe" exposure and the blood builds the army against the disease so that if it comes in contact with real Marek's, it already has the army built.

The Marek's exposed birds , unfortunately got an "unsafe" exposure, which means the virus got there before the army was built.

Technically, if one is absolutely sure they have No Marek's in their flock, vaccinating adults in the flock would probably work. Meaning the vaccine offers a "safe" exposure to get the army built before it's exposed to the real thing.

 

[seminolewind]

we did talk about strains and people wanting to know which one and he said that's almost impossible unless you test your chickens. It sounds like that is very complex. So no, I don't know what strain but I sure hope it works. It was $55 and I got 20 syringes too, so that's not too bad.

I'll bet that the common strain is probably 99% of which strain a chicken gets. I would save the worrying about which strain for if you vaccinated a hatch of chicks and many of them died from Marek's anyway.