Poultry Barometer

IB Strain Monitoring in Broiler Chickens

Poultry

Work Package 1

Use case

Author

Yara Slegers, Sjaak de Wit, Miel Hostens, et al.

Published

June 26, 2022

Aim

The aim of the “Poultry Barometer” is to provide insight into the most prevalent Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) strains in broiler chickens within specific regions and periods.

Background

IBV causes infectious bronchitis (IB) in poultry. An infection can lead to respiratory signs, drop in production, and kidney damage. In the Netherlands, broilers are often vaccinated against IBV to limit the impact of disease. However, vaccines do not protect against all IBV strains, and new strain are regularly discovered. Insights into the most prevalent strains can help to better protect broiler flocks against IBV.

For more information on IBV, visit the GD website

Data

Currently, the dashboard only includes data from the Netherlands, provided by Royal GD. Royal GD performs PCR tests on submitted material to detect IBV. If the virus is detected, sequencing will determine the specific IBV genotype.

Only anonymous data is used to create the dashboard. After linking a farm to the correct province, farm identification is removed from the data. The dashboard shows only aggregated data.