Botulism is an intoxication caused by exotoxins of Clostridium botulinum. The case of botulism described here occurred on a commercial meat turkey farm with two houses. Toms and hens were maintained in two separate houses, toms in house A and hens in house B. At 10 wk of age, an increase in mortality was observed in the toms located in house A. Clinically the animals presented with paralysis of the legs, wings, and neck. Affected birds were sitting and reluctant to move. Necropsy failed to find any specific lesions. In liver, heart, muscles, crop, and gizzard as well as in intestinal contents, DNA of C. botulinum type C was detected by PCR. The result was confirmed by a mouse lethality neutralization test. During the 2 wk after the onset of the clinical signs the mortality was about 12%. The hens kept in house B did not show any symptoms and remained healthy. Investigations of environmental samples to detect the source of the toxin were not successful. After 2 wk clinical signs and mortality abated. At 16 wk of age, toms again showed the same clinical signs accompanied by raised mortality. Again C. botulinum toxin type C was detected. Within 2 wk the total mortality reached roughly 50%. Based on the "precautionary principle" and in agreement with the local authorities, the birds were euthanatized using CO2 in order to not compromise food safety.
Paromomycin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic with activity against protozoa. Currently, paromomycin is registered for food producing animal species. In a pilot study we evaluated the efficacy of different doses of paromomycin in the feed against Histomonas meleagridis in experimentally challenged turkey poults. Groups consisting of 30 birds each were given feed with 100, 200 and 400 ppm paromomycin, respectively, starting on day 1 through to day 42. One group of 30 birds was left untreated. On day 21 all birds were infected intracloacally with H. meleagridis. Additionally, 10 birds were kept as a non-infected and non-treated control group. Before the challenge there was no significant difference between untreated and treated groups with regards to feed consumption and feed conversion rate. After the challenge, mortality was 80% in the infected nontreated birds. In the treated groups the mortality rate was 73.3%, 43.3% and 20%, respectively. No histomonal DNA was found in caeca and livers of the surviving birds. In addition, higher doses of paromomycin (200 and 400 ppm) led to reduced counts of Clostridium perfringens in the droppings. In conclusion, a prophylactic application of paromomycin as a feed additive was effective against the challenge with H. meleagridis under experimental conditions.
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