Is antibiotic treatment efficacious to treat or prevent/control colibacillosis in broiler production? An amendment protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This protocol is an amendment of the previous study conducted by Sargeant et al. (2019) on the same topic. The description below will mainly focus on modifications provided. This protocol defines the methodology of the systematic review and meta-analysis to address the following PICO question: “In broilers at risk of colibacillosis, does antibiotic treatment versus no antibiotic treatment result in higher FCR/fewer condemnations/lower mortality/total antibiotic use?”. The specific PICO elements are: 1. Population: Broilers (including the whole production chain). 2. Intervention: Any antibiotic licensed for use in chickens in ovo, by injection, in feed, or in water at doses consistent with therapeutic or prophylactic use. Eligible antibiotic include any antibiotic for use in treating or preventing colibacillosis in poultry included in Sargeant et al. (2019) and the OIE list of antibiotic agents of veterinary importance. 3. Comparator: Placebo or untreated control group or an alternative antibiotic treatment. 4. Outcomes: Mortality, Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), condemnations due to colibacillosis at the slaughterhouse, and total antibiotic use

Assessing Biosecurity Compliance in Poultry Farms: A Survey in a Densely Populated Poultry Area in North East Italy

Biosecurity in poultry farms represents the first line of defense against the entry and spread of pathogens that may have animal health, food safety, and economic consequences. The aim of this study was to assess biosecurity compliance in poultry farms located in a densely populated poultry area in North East Italy. A total of 259 poultry farms (i.e., broilers, turkeys, and layers) were surveyed between 2018 and 2019 using standardized checklists, and differences in biosecurity compliance between the poultry sectors and years (only for turkey farms) were tested for significance. Among the three sectors, turkey farms showed the highest compliance. Farm hygiene, infrastructure condition, cleaning and disinfection tools, and procedures were the biosecurity measures most complied with. Some deficiencies were observed in the cleanliness of the farm hygiene lock in broiler farms, as well as the presence of the house hygiene lock in broiler and layer farms and an adequate coverage of built-up litter in turkey and broiler farms. In conclusion, this study highlighted a generally high level of biosecurity in the visited poultry farms (probably due to the stringent national regulation and the integration of the poultry industry) and identified some measures that still need to be improved

Are management measures efficacious to prevent or control colibacillosis in broilers production chain? A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The protocol is established as an essential and basic tool to perform a systematic review on the efficacy of biosecurity measures to prevent or reduce colibacillosis in broilers

Monitoring biosecurity in poultry production: an overview of databases reporting biosecurity compliance from seven European countries

Compliance with required on-farm biosecurity practices reduces the risk of contamination and spread of zoonotic and economically important diseases. With repeating avian influenza epidemics in the poultry industry, the need to monitor and improve the overall level of biosecurity is increasing. In practice, biosecurity compliance is assessed by various actors (e.g., academic, private and public institutions), and the results of such assessments may be recorded and gathered in databases which are seldom shared or thoroughly analyzed. This study aimed to provide an inventory of databases related to the assessment of biosecurity in poultry farms in seven major poultry-producing European countries to highlight challenges and opportunities associated with biosecurity data collection, sharing, and use. The institutions in charge of these databases were contacted and interviewed using a structured questionnaire to gather information on the main characteristics of the databases and the context of their implementation. A total of 20 databases were identified, covering the gamut of poultry species and production types. Most databases were linked to veterinary health authorities or academia, and to a lesser extent interbranch organizations. Depending on the institutions in charge, the databases serve various purposes, from providing advice to enforcing regulations. The quality of the biosecurity data collected is believed to be quite reliable, as biosecurity is mostly assessed by trained farm advisors or official veterinarians and during a farm visit. Some of the databases are difficult to analyze and/or do not offer information concerning which biosecurity measures are most or least respected. Moreover, some key biosecurity practices are sometimes absent from certain databases. Although the databases serve a variety of purposes and cover different production types, each with specific biosecurity features, their analysis should help to improve the surveillance of biosecurity in the poultry sector and provide evidence on the benefits of biosecurity

Attuazione delle misure di biosicurezza in allevamenti avicoli e loro relazione con lo stato sanitario e l’uso degli antimicrobici

Con il termine biosicurezza si intende l’insieme delle misure utilizzate a scopo preventivo per impedire l’introduzione e la diffusione delle malattie infettive negli allevamenti intensivi. Per la valutazione e la verifica dei corretti adempimenti in termini di biosicurezza, il Ministero della Salute lavora alla stesura di checklist: questionari al cui interno si trovano domande mirate al controllo delle misure di biosicurezza negli allevamenti. Ogni anno, con frequenze variabili di regione in regione, vengono effettuati dei sopralluoghi negli allevamenti e in queste occasioni vengono somministrate le checklist. Lo scopo di questo studio è quello di analizzare i dati ricavati dalla compilazione delle suddette checklist per la valutazione delle misure di biosicurezza in allevamenti avicoli intensivi del Nord-est Italia ed effettuare una valutazione sull’utilizzo del farmaco come conseguenza di una corretta attuazione delle misure di biosicurezza. In particolare, l’area di studio è quella a cui fa riferimento l’AULSS 6 Euganea, tra le aree a maggior densità di allevamenti avicoli del Veneto. Lo strumento principale su cui si basa lo studio è la checklist ministeriale. I dati raccolti sono relativi agli anni 2018 e 2019 e le checklist sono state compilate dai veterinari dell’AULSS 6 Euganea durante i sopralluoghi. Le categorie commerciali prese in considerazione per l’analisi sono: broiler, galline ovaiole e tacchini. Sono stati considerati anche i dati provenienti da allevamenti di avicoli misti (cioè allevamenti avicoli in cui sono presenti due o più specie differenti, es. broiler-faraone) inclusi nella categoria broiler per affinità

A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of vaccination against colibacillosis in broiler production.

Colibacillosis, a disease caused by Escherichia coli in broiler chickens has serious implications on food safety, security, and economic sustainability. Antibiotics are required for treating the disease, while vaccination and biosecurity are used for its prevention. This systematic review and meta-analysis, conducted under the COST Action CA18217-European Network for Optimization of Veterinary Antimicrobial Treatment (ENOVAT), aimed to assess the efficacy of E. coli vaccination in broiler production and provide evidence-based recommendations. A comprehensive search of bibliographic databases, including, PubMed, CAB Abstracts, Web of Science and Agricola, yielded 2,722 articles. Following a defined protocol, 39 studies were selected for data extraction. Most of the studies were experimental infection trials, with only three field studies identified, underscoring the need for more field-based research. The selected studies reported various types of vaccines, including killed (n = 5), subunit (n = 8), outer membrane vesicles/protein-based (n = 4), live/live-attenuated (n = 16), and CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) (n = 6) vaccines. The risk of bias assessment revealed that a significant proportion of studies reporting mortality (92.3%) or feed conversion ratio (94.8%) as outcomes, had "unclear" regarding bias. The meta-analysis, focused on live-attenuated and CpG ODN vaccines, demonstrated a significant trend favoring both vaccination types in reducing mortality. However, the review also highlighted the challenges in reproducing colibacillosis in experimental setups, due to considerable variation in challenge models involving different routes of infection, predisposing factors, and challenge doses. This highlights the need for standardizing the challenge model to facilitate comparisons between studies and ensure consistent evaluation of vaccine candidates. While progress has been made in the development of E. coli vaccines for broilers, further research is needed to address concerns such as limited heterologous protection, practicability for application, evaluation of efficacy in field conditions and adoption of novel approaches

Assessing Biosecurity Compliance in Poultry Farms: A Survey in a Densely Populated Poultry Area in North East Italy.

Biosecurity in poultry farms represents the first line of defense against the entry and spread of pathogens that may have animal health, food safety, and economic consequences. The aim of this study was to assess biosecurity compliance in poultry farms located in a densely populated poultry area in North East Italy. A total of 259 poultry farms (i.e., broilers, turkeys, and layers) were surveyed between 2018 and 2019 using standardized checklists, and differences in biosecurity compliance between the poultry sectors and years (only for turkey farms) were tested for significance. Among the three sectors, turkey farms showed the highest compliance. Farm hygiene, infrastructure condition, cleaning and disinfection tools, and procedures were the biosecurity measures most complied with. Some deficiencies were observed in the cleanliness of the farm hygiene lock in broiler farms, as well as the presence of the house hygiene lock in broiler and layer farms and an adequate coverage of built-up litter in turkey and broiler farms. In conclusion, this study highlighted a generally high level of biosecurity in the visited poultry farms (probably due to the stringent national regulation and the integration of the poultry industry) and identified some measures that still need to be improved