Researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison have
found a new way to control coccidiosis in poultry.
It holds great promise for the poultry industry which is
bedevilled by coccidiosis that is antibiotic resistant.
The work focuses on a fundamental immune
"off-switch" called Interleukin 10 or IL-10, manipulated by bacteria
and many other pathogens to defeat the immune system during infection.
Mark Cook and animal sciences associate researcher Jordan
Sand have learned to disable this switch inside the intestine, the site of
major farm animal infections such as the diarrheal disease coccidiosis.
Cook vaccinates laying hens to create antibodies to IL-10.
The hens put the antibody in eggs that are then sprayed on the feed of the
animals he wants to protect.
The antibody neutralizes the IL-10 off-switch in those
animals, allowing their immune systems to better fight disease.
In experiments with
300,000 chickens, those that ate the antibody-bearing material were fully
protected against coccidiosis.
The research holds
promise for controlling other bacterial diseases and infections.
