Trial of an inactivated vaccine against egg drop syndrome 76 in New Zealand

Authors: Christensen NH
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 46, Issue 6, pp 237-238, Dec 1998
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Avian, Poultry, Production animal
Subject Terms: Animal remedies/veterinary medicines, Biosecurity, Disease control/eradication, Eggs, Syndrome, Disease/defect, Epidemiology, Immune system/immunology, Reproduction, Reproduction - female, Research/development, Vaccination, Viral
Article class: Correspondence

---

Abstract: Egg drop syndrome 76 (EDS 76) is a disease of chickens caused by an haemagglutinating group III aviadenovirus (Smyth and McFerran, 1989). Infection with the virus causes a failure to reach peak production in flocks affected prior to 20 weeks of age, or a decline in production of from 10% to 30%, accompanied by the presence of softshelled eggs in flocks infected in early lay (McFerran et al., 1978). The disease was reported to have first occurred in the Netherlands in 1974 (van Eck et al., 1976), and the causative agent identified in Northern Ireland in 1976 (McFerran et al., 1978). Antibodies to EDS 76 virus have been detected in duck sera collected prior to 1976 (McFerran et al., 1977), but not chicken sera, and the preference of the virus for duck cells has lead to the suggestion that EDS 76 is a duck adenovirus introduced to chickens, probably via a contaminated vaccine (Smyth and McFerran, 1989). The use of contaminated vaccines in primary breeding stock lead to the dissemination of the virus through…

---