Review on major viral diseases of chickens reported in Ethiopia

Abstract

In Ethiopia, the major poultry products come from backyards chickens. But in recent times, more commercialized poultry farms are flourishing having considerable contribution to the supply of poultry products, especially to urban areas. There are also attempts to upgrade the productivity of local chickens through distribution of exotic and cross breeds to the rural areas. These endeavors, however, are hampered from providing the expected benefits due to various constraints, among which viral diseases are of greater concern. Some of the viral diseases are thought to be introduced concurrent with intensification of poultry industry. In addition, the growing numbers of exotic flocks in the backyard system increases the number of birds which are at risk of getting infected with pathogens in the environment. The present review article deals with major viral diseases of chickens, their current status and future challenges to the poultry industry in Ethiopia. Among these, Newcastle disease, infectious bursal disease and Marek's disease become serious threats to poultry production. Due to limited research activities, the epidemiology and the total economic damage caused by this disease are not fully known. Frequent outbreaks and occurrence of new strains for these viral diseases became a challenge to the juvenile poultry industry in Ethiopia.

Sequence-based comparison of field and vaccine strains of infectious bursal disease virus in Ethiopia reveals an amino acid mismatch in the immunodominant VP2 protein

“…Since then, it has been prevalent in various regions [33], causing high mortality, ranging from 50% to 72%, in chickens [29,34]. The disease is considered one of the important constraints to the poultry industry throughout the country [17].…”

Characterization of Newcastle disease virus isolates obtained from outbreak cases in commercial chickens and wild pigeons in Ethiopia

“…In Ethiopia, ND is one of the most important diseases inflicting heavy losses of chickens (Chaka et al 2012 ; Mazengia 2012 ). Despite this, the information about the genetic characteristics of the NDVs is limited to studies of a few samples collected from village chickens.…”

Participatory evaluation of chicken health and production constraints in Ethiopia

“…A number of challenges and obstacles (which we here call ‘constraints’) limiting the success and profitability of both backyard and semi-intensive production have been identified, including infectious diseases, low input of veterinary services, poor housing, poor biosecurity, predators and, the quality and cost of feed ( Demeke, 1996; Wossene, 2006; Woldemariam and Wossene, 2007; Alemu et al, 2008; Ayele et al, 2009; Wolde et al, 2011; Mazengia, 2012 ). However, these studies often focus on one or a few constraints and have not assessed the knowledge and beliefs of the chicken producers themselves.…”