Page 9 - National Poultry Newspaper

Rapid on farm diagnostics for poultry respiratory disease outbreaks
IN October 2021, Poul- try Hub Australia facili- tated a two-day video Ideas Exchange confer- ence and research ideas on the development of rapid on-farm diagnos- tics was discussed by a group of researchers led by Associate Profes- sor Ali Ghorashi from Charles Sturt Univer- sity.
birds that are diseased.” Therefore, surveillance of respiratory pathogens in poultry farms relies on laboratory testing, which can be laborious, costly, complicated and time
a single tube at a constant temperature.
elothrix rhusiopathiae in support of LAMP being a viable inexpensive, rapid, robust, highly specific and sensitive on-farm alternative to traditional laboratory-based diag- nostics for bacterial res- piratory disease – which also offers opportunities of broad disease surveil- lance and early interven- tion to reduce disease associated losses in the poultry industry.
Respiratory diseases are a cause of concern for poultry producers because outbreaks are difficult to contain and can cause significant economic losses, mak- ing poultry farming less profitable.
als are needed to obtain samples, which are then transported to highly specialised laboratories, where skilled profession- als perform laboratory testing and analyses us- ing costly machines and laboratory reagents.
Moreover, the outcome of the test is determined by simple visual observa- tion of changing reaction colour and does not re- quire trained personnel, cutting down on the cost of the test.
Therefore, Assoc Prof Ali Ghorashi and his team of Dr Sam Pant from the Charles Sturt University and Prof Amir Noormo- hammadi from the Uni- versity of Melbourne have teamed up with industry partner Dr Peter Scott of Scolexia to develop L A MP-based assays for respiratory pathogens commonly found in Aus- tralian poultry farms.
While antibiotics and vaccinations are available to control these diseases, widespread use of antibi- otics can induce bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics and vaccines, and if available, may fail to protect all birds on a farm.
This makes for a cum- bersome testing process that impedes routine surveillance, thereby in- creasing the risks of dis- ease outbreaks on Aus- tralian poultry farms.
In light of these obvious advantages, if LAMP- based tests can be devel- oped for common poultry respiratory pathogens, then high frequency rou- tine surveillance will be- come possible and that will significantly en- hance biosecurity meas- ures on farm.
Therefore, strict bios- ecurity rules are gener- ally required to control respiratory disease out- breaks on poultry farms.
Assoc Prof Ali Gho- rashi said there was al- ready an abundance of evidence in scientific literature suggesting that this is possible with the help of a technique known as loop-mediated isothermal amplification, or LAMP.
Collecting swab from ocular secretion.
A typical LAMP protocol consists of four steps: 1 – Collecting specimens including nasal, ocular, tracheal (swabs), 2 – Preparation of sample and DNA extraction, 3 – Amplification of target DNA, 4 – Detection of results through colourimetric reaction.
consuming.
Trained profession-
No sophisticated ma- chine or equipment is necessary, which means that the test can be imple- mented on farm, negating the need for transporta- tion, which ultimately af- fords rapid testing.
But what if testing for respiratory pathogens could be done on farm without the need for so- phisticated equipment or technical know-how?
The aim of this project is to develop on-farm di- agnostics for pasteurella multocida, mycoplasma gallisepticum and erysip-
The research is being funded by Poultry Hub Australia and is expected to get off the ground ear- ly 2022.
Routine surveillance is an essential component of effective biosecurity measures, as they provide information on the status of the flocks and allow producers to implement control measures as soon as outbreaks are detect- ed, minimising economic losses.
This technique can de- tect DNA from pathogens in a variety of samples efficiently and with high specificity.
It is difficult to simply look at chicken in a flock and say, “Those are the
Moreover, this tech- nique is cost-effective, relying only on samples being added to a prefor- mulated reaction mix in
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National Poultry Newspaper, December 2021 – Page 9