Day 091 - 17 Feb 95 - Page 15
1 I know we did the second one. Did we get as far as the
2 third one?
3 A. We did femoral head necrosis.
4
5 Q. On to the following page, how often do chickens at Sun
6 Valley suffer, or what percentage of chickens at Sun Valley
7 would be suffering from bacterial synovitis arthritis or
8 osteomyelitis?
9 A. The synovitis and arthritis are relatively rare
10 conditions. Osteomyelitis that really means a bacterial
11 infection of the bone marrow. That can lead to femoral
12 head necrosis by the extension of the infection from the
13 bone marrow to the end of bone, so osteomyelitis may be
14 more common than the other two and in some cases it is part
15 of the femoral head necrosis.
16
17 Q. So what would be the incidence of osteomyelitis?
18 A. It is not something that we measure and, therefore,
19 I really could not give an answer. We are doing our own
20 survey work on farms, which involves collecting birds and
21 doing routine postmortem examinations of birds that have
22 been culled for lameness, and also daily mortality to look
23 for leg problems. So, that is something that I hope to
24 gain information on, but I really do not have any figures
25 for that at the moment.
26
27 Q. I think we have done hockburn. What is plantar
28 pododermatitis?
29 A. That is ulceration of the feet which we talked about
30 yesterday.
31
32 Q. What about tenosynovitis?
33 A. This is an infectious condition, viral arthritis caused
34 by a virus. It is quite common in countries such as
35 Holland where it is caused by a rear virus. It is quite
36 rare in this country. Some countries routinely vaccinate
37 for the condition but we do not in the UK. We see it very
38 occasionally, that is all.
39
40 Q. When you say "very occasionally", what -----
41 A. I have seen it once in the last two years.
42
43 Q. Affecting how many birds?
44 A. Affecting in a broiler house, it probably affected
45 probably about one per cent of the birds.
46
47 Q. Perosis, what is the incidence?
48 A. This is a rare condition now. It used to be seen
49 slipped tendon as a result of manganese or choline
50 deficiency, it causes bending of the tibia bone. We do not
51 really see this now at all.
52
53 Q. Since when?
54 A. Well, since the cause of it was recognised and the
55 correct nutritional factors are put in the ration to avoid
56 it happening.
57
58 Q. So when was that implemented?
59 A. Probably certainly 10 years ago.
60
