Bangladesh: A threat to inner city food security – Outbreak of infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) in Shaver 579 Brown Layer poultry flocks in Dhaka
“My flock of Brown layers has been decimated due to an outbreak of ILT. Besides brown layers all other birds are in good health. I tried with everything under my disposal but could not help them to survive.”
Dr.Mohammed Habibur Rahman,Professor of Pathology, The Blue Crescent Veterinary Hospital, Mirpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Dr.Bahanur Rahman, Professor of Microbiology, Department of Microbiology and Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh
Dr.Asadul Islam, Department of Microbiology and Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, Bangladesh (M.S Student)
Excerpt:
An outbreak of infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) was recorded in the roof-top commercial poultry flocks from September, 2022 to October, 2022 and was in fact a climate change problem. During the pandemic although I started poultry farming with 10 laying birds to cater the need of my family members to supply them with eggs and meat in addition to goat milk. In December, 2021 I received a gift of 51 Shaver 579 hybrid layer day-old chicks from Nourish Feed and Hatcery and they came to lay 140 days later and peaked to 97% production.
My experience has shown that the Shaver Brown is highly efficient and produces large sized brown eggs with strong shells and good internal quality. With this success, added another batch of 51 day-old chicks of same Brown layer to the flock. However, when the second batch was 70 days old, they started showing severe gasping, coughing, mild conjunctivitis and stretching of the neck with dry rales (Fig 1). Mortality rose up to 95%. Hemorrhagic tracheitis (Fig. 2) was the salient pathological findings. Laying birds showed degeneration of egg follicles while pullets suffered regression of the egg follicles (3). Birds died due to chocking of the wind pipe. After having a thorough post-mortem examinations, different organs and tissues were collected for laboratory tests like histo-pathology and PCR and sent to the Department of Microbiology Hygiene of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensing, Bangladesh. Their results will be communicated once they are available.
Complete ILT paper.
