Symptoms of Infectious Bronchitis in Chickens and Treatment and Medication Methods

Infectious bronchitis in chickens is an acute, highly contagious respiratory infectious disease of chickens caused by the infectious bronchitis virus.So what are the symptoms of infectious bronchitis in chickens? How is it treated? What medication works best?

1. Due to climate and various other reasons, laying hens are highly susceptible to infectious bronchitis. This disease can cause reduced weight gain and feed conversion efficiency in chickens, and mixed infections that trigger airsacculitis cause broilers to be culled during processing, as well as causing a decline in egg production and egg quality.

2. Infectious bronchitis (IB) is an acute, highly contagious, viral respiratory disease characterized by tracheal rales, coughing and sneezing. In addition, the disease may also attack the kidneys and cause a decline in egg production and egg quality in laying hens. Chicks may die from respiratory or kidney infections.

3. The infectious bronchitis virus is able to replicate in the respiratory tract, intestines, kidneys and oviduct. This virus can spread rapidly among chicken flocks, and susceptible chickens housed in the same pen as infected chickens usually show symptoms within 48h. After aerosol inoculation, the virus can be isolated from the trachea, lungs, kidneys and bursa of Fabricius from 24h to day 7; the virus isolation rate decreases over time and varies depending on the strain.

4. Although the persistence of infectious bronchitis virus infection has not been determined, prolonged and intermittent virus shedding demonstrates that contamination of personnel and equipment is a potential risk for transmission between flocks.

5. There is no specific therapy for infectious bronchitis. Improving feeding and management conditions, such as preventing cold stress, avoiding overcrowding and ensuring feed intake to prevent emaciation, can reduce the losses caused by infectious bronchitis. Treatment with appropriate antibiotics can reduce the losses caused by airsacculitis. In Australia, adding electrolyte replacements to drinking water is recommended to replenish lost sodium and potassium and thereby reduce losses caused by nephritis. The recommended concentration of sodium and potassium (or either) is 72 (millimoles per liter) mmol/l, of which at least one third should be in the form of citrate or bicarbonate.

The best approach to this disease is prevention and control, that is, management and vaccination.