Cattle Virus May Contribute
To Development Of Turkey Disease
WOOSTER, Ohio A
common cattle virus has been
found to cause an enteric disease
in turkeys that can lead to poult
enteritis and mortality syn
drome, an emerging disease that
causes high mortality rates and
severe economic losses to the
poultry industry.
A team of Ohio State Univer
sity researchers with the Ohio
Agricultural Research and De
velopment Center’s Food
Animal Health Research Pro
gram found that specific
pathogen-free young turkey
poults injected with a strain of
bovine coronavirus, along with a
novel astrovirus, developed a
disease similar to poult enteritis
and mortality syndrome
(PEMS). Research has shown
that turkey coronavirus and the
astrovirus, which attacks the
immune system, contribute to
the development of the disease.
“When it was found that the
coronavirus contributes to the
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development of PEMS, it raised
a question of whether turkeys
raised close to beef cattle opera
tions could become infected with
the bovine coronavirus,” said
Mo Saif, head of the project. “So
we took the coronavirus from
cattle and gave it to turkeys and
found that it caused a disease
similar to that caused by turkey
coronavirus.”
PEMS was first diagnosed in
1991 in North Carolina. Since
then it has spread to other states
such as South Carolina, Texas,
Virginia and Indiana and has
cost the poultry industry more
than $34 million in losses. The
disease, which attacks poults
age two to four weeks, can cause
a mortality rate as high as 70
percent. PEMS weakens the
immune system, leaving turkeys
highly susceptible to bacterial
and parasitic infections. Those
birds that survive become
stunted in growth. That is, the
turkey no longer gains weight
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despite the amount of feed it
consumes.
So far, PEMS has not been
found in Ohio, simply because
the turkey coronavirus and as
trovirus have not been identified
in flocks on Ohio farms. Saif ad
vises, however, to follow strict
biosecurity procedures to avoid
any possible contamination of
flocks.
“Give the turkeys vitamins
and minerals. Make sure the
ventilation system is working
well and that water and feed are
fresh and available,” said Saif.
“Also keep wild birds and other
animals off the farm.” He added
that it’s also not a good idea to
keep more than one animal spe
cies together or more than one
age group of turkeys in the same
area.
The research team also stud
ied whether chickens, which also
suffer from a similar corona
virus that causes infectious
bronchitis, could infect turkeys.
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Farmers Union Delegates:
Halt Consolidation
In Food Industries
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Delegates to the National Farm
ers Union’s (NFU) 99th anniver
sary convention adopted new
policies amid growing concerns
“We found that the coronavirus
in chickens does not cause the
disease in turkeys, although the
two viral agents are very similar
to each other,” said Saif.
The team has been collaborat
ing with researchers from North
Carolina State University for
over three years to identify the
cause of PEMS and develop
tests to help diagnose the dis
ease. There are no vaccines
available to protect turkey
flocks.
Other OSU researchers in
volved in the project include
Linda Saif, M. Yu, Y. Tang, M.
Ismail, K. Cho and R. Dearth.
MARYLAND
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 24,2001-D7
over the headlong rush toward
corporate concentration in agri
business and other food indus
tries.
In addition to opposing the
growing consolidation in food
production, the delegates also
reemphasized the need for
greater antitrust enforcement,
review of mergers and business
combinations, and laws that
protect family farmers and
ranchers from other market
distorting business activity.
“As mergers in production,
processing, transportation and
retail continue to weigh the
playing field against the Ameri
can family farmer and rancher,
we must aggressively pursue
measures to protect our family
farms, consumers, and the mar
kets that serve them,” said
Leland Swenson, president of
NFU. “Our members continue
the call for Congress, the De
partments of Justice and Agri
culture and the Federal Trade
Commission to provide the nec
essary scrutiny, resources, and
tools to combat this trend that is
destructive to agriculture.”
The Farmers Union policy
calls for a reversal of the trend
toward a highly horizontally
and vertically integrated pro
duction system through the en
forcement of antitrust and fair
competition laws. The special
policy adoption also calls for a
temporary moratorium on large
agricultural mergers to allow the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USD A) to collect data that pro
vide Congress with important
information that would guide
action to strengthen antitrust
laws and develop economic
impact statements detailing the
effect such mergers will have on
family farmers and ranchers
and rural economies.
The convention adopted
policy positions that would re
quire firms of a certain size to
provide documentation on busi
ness combinations that behave
like mergers, require the Depart
ment of Justice to provide ra
tional for permitting large
business mergers, prohibit meat
packer ownership of livestock
prior to a slaughter, a practice
that manipulates livestock
prices to the detriment of inde
pendent and contract producers,
repeal the Illinois Brick Su
preme Court decision that bars
farmers and ranchers from
taking legal action unless the
harm created by antitrust or an
ticompetitive behavior directly
affects them, and opposes “slot
ting fees” charged to suppliers
of food retail entities in order to
place their product on the self.
“A fair and competitive at
mosphere must be restored to all
our food industries,” said Swen
son. “Congress must work with
the USDA, the Justice Depart
ment and the Federal Trade
Commission to respond to the
growing concentration of power
into the hands of a few players
in the food industries. This is
vital to our markets, our family
farmers and ranchers, and for
the revitalization of independ
ently owned businesses every
where.”