Poultry Network and Diseases Control
PI: Mohamed El-Gazzar
This project is intended to cover activity 1.1. The State of Ohio has a large poultry industry. It has the second largest table egg producer in the United States with sizable turkey and broiler industries. In the State of Ohio, as in many other poultry producing states, apart from reportable diseases, centralized effort that coordinates data collection, control and eradication of other poultry diseases including respiratory diseases is non-existent. The ultimate goal of this project is to generate a data base that captures the size and the distribution of poultry species and poultry diseases in the State of Ohio. The data can be then be applied as a very useful tool in monitoring infectious poultry diseases including respiratory diseases and can help to coordinate prevention, control and eradication efforts in the State of Ohio. In that respect, a good example to follow is the “Poultry Technical Advisory Committee” in the state of Georgia which was formed by representatives from major poultry producers in the state, and the Georgia Poultry laboratory network. The committee manages, updates the database and coordinates all the poultry diseases control and eradication efforts at the state level. The formation of such central database in the State of Ohio will be presented as a model that could be emulated and extended to a regional or even the national level. The yearly goals of this project will be achieved in successive stages as follows:
Yearly Goals:
Year 1:
Map the poultry production in the State of Ohio. This will include all of the three major poultry sectors in the state, which are the layer, the turkey and the broiler sectors. The data will include the geographical location and the capacity of the poultry production type and facility.
Year 2:
Another layer of data will be collected and overlaid on the production data map. This data will include available poultry disease incidence and prevalence data; this will be primarily, but not limited to, respiratory diseases data. There will be continuous update to the poultry production database which provides data about the species, housing capacity and geographical location of poultry production.
Year 3:
Form a central body that will continue to update this database and use it to monitor poultry infectious diseases, coordinate prevention, control and eradication efforts based on the information gathered and processed by this network. The structure of this committee is proposed to be from representatives of the poultry industry, poultry health experts from The Ohio State University and the diagnostic laboratory. The proposed structure is subject to change.
Years 4:
Annual reports shall be generated to discuss the updated infectious poultry disease status including respiratory diseases and the proposed measures of prevention and control. In addition detailed emergency plans for different poultry diseases will be constructed, including initial response, vaccination programs, zoning maps and poultry traffic. In addition to annual reports, and routine meetings, the committee will respond to any poultry disease epidemic providing recommendation to control the outbreak.
Years 5:
Annual reports and outbreak management of poultry diseases should continue regularly from this point onward. An effort will be made to present this work to other states in the region with the aim to create a regional network. Additionally, this network has the potential to extend to national level.
Outcomes:
At the end of this 5 year project we would have created a centralized body for poultry disease epidemiology. This centralized body will have the required data and tools to aid in the decision making of poultry diseases control and eradication efforts in the State of Ohio. This could then be expanded to regional or national level.
