Vaccines against chicken coccidiosis with particular reference to previous decade: progress, challenges, and opportunities

Abstract

Chicken coccidiosis is an economically significant disease of commercial chicken industry accounting for losses of more than £10.4 billion (according to 2016 prices). Additionally, the costs incurred in prophylaxis and therapeutics against chicken coccidiosis in developing countries (for instance Pakistan according to 2018 prices) reached US $45,000.00 while production losses for various categories of chicken ranges 104.74 to US $2,750,779.00. The infection has been reported from all types of commercial chickens (broiler, layer, breeder) having a range of reported prevalence of 7–90%. The concern of resistance towards major anticoccidials has provided a way forward to vaccine research and development. For prophylaxis of chicken coccidiosis, live virulent, attenuated, ionophore tolerant strains and recombinant vaccines have been extensively trialed and commercialized. Eimeria antigens and novel vaccine adjuvants have elicited the protective efficacy against coccidial challenge. The cost of production and achieving robust immune responses in birds are major challenges for commercial vaccine production. In the future, research should be focused on the development of multivalent anticoccidial vaccines for commercial poultry. Efforts should also be made on the discovery of novel antigens for incorporation into vaccine designs which might be more effective against multiple Eimeria species. This review presents a recap to the overall progress against chicken Eimeria with particular reference to previous decade. The article presents critical analysis of potential areas for future research in chicken Eimeria vaccine development.

Actin depolymerizing factor-based nanomaterials: A novel strategy to enhance E. mitis-specific immunity

“…As the intracellular protozoan parasite, individual or several Eimeria species could cause intestinal coccidiosis in chickens ( 2 , 44 ), and cause huge economic losses to the poultry industry ( 12 , 45 ). Compared with medical treatment, poultry immunization has been thought to be critical in reducing occurrence of coccidiosis ( 15 ). In recent years, minimal components from Eimeria spp.…”

“…In recent years, minimal components from Eimeria spp. are used as a novel approach to elicit avian coccidiosis resistance ( 15 ). Such approaches are designed according to parasites’ antigens, and the immunogenicity of parasites remained ( 46 ).…”

“…Safe and reliable anticoccidial vaccines may be the best approach to reduce the burdens of Eimeria species ( 13 , 14 ). Nowadays, anticoccidial vaccines have gained a considerable development, but the vaccines which could provide full protection against Eimeria species are still unavailable ( 15 ). As an actin-binding protein, the actin-depolymerizing factor (ADF) possesses high conservatism in eukaryotes, and could depolymerize filamentous actin to monomeric actin ( 16 ).The genomes of apicomplexan parasites contain few actin-binding proteins including ADF and which modulates motility processes of parasites ( 17 ).…”

Botanicals: A promising approach for controlling cecal coccidiosis in poultry

“…The primary issue that is being faced with the use of chemical anticoccidials is drug resistance ( 37 – 39 ). Resistance is the ability of the pathogen to escape from the medicine ( 40 , 41 ).…”

Isolation of saprophytic filamentous fungi from avian fecal samples and assessment of its predatory activity on coccidian oocysts

“…The control of this parasitic disease is mainly achieved through chemotherapy (e.g., anticoccidials) and vaccines. However, due to increasing concerns regarding antiparasitic drug resistance, extensive research has been conducted aiming at developing new alternative or complementary strategies to control Coccidiosis in bird collections, including feed improvement, house cleaning and disinfection, as well as natural solutions like herbal extracts, essential oils, probiotics and prebiotics, and algae 5 – 9 . More recently, Portuguese, Spanish, Brazilian and Danish researchers have been proposing the use of predatory fungi (also known as “nematophagous fungi” or “helmintophagous fungi”) with larvicidal and ovicidal characteristics as a complement to antiparasitic drugs for the control of gastrointestinal parasitic infections in domestic and exotic birds 10 .…”