An isolator for avian disease research

Effects of simple and disposable chicken cages for experimental Eimeria infections

During experimental Eimeria infections in chickens, facilities are often contaminated by fecal oocysts known to be highly resistant to both chemical and enzymatic treatments. Thus, studies using experimental Eimeria infections have been limited due to the difficulty of complete elimination of residual oocysts from both cages and facilities. To overcome this limitation, simple, inexpensive, and disposable cages were constructed from cardboard boxes and tested during experimental Eimeria maxima infections. The cages were used in animal rooms with only a 1.7% evidence of coccidia contamination between adjacent cages. No significant differences in fecal oocyst output and body weight gain were noted between animals housed in disposable cages and animals housed in wire control cages. This cage design is a useful means for preventing oocyst contamination during experimental conditions, suggesting that this disposable cage design could be used for other avian infectious disease studies.

Immunological differences in Eimeria maxima: effect of a mixed immunizing inoculum on heterologous challenge

The immunological differences known to exist between laboratory strains of Eimeria maxima was confirmed. Protection against challenge with different strains or field isolates of the species could be achieved by including small numbers (25 oocysts) of each in the immunizing inoculum. Similar protection was obtained when 4 distinct populations which were allowed to interbreed were used in the immunizing inoculum. This hybrid mixture of E. maxima was used to immunize chickens against challenge with 7 new isolates of E. maxima from poultry houses in different parts of England. The results show that although immunological differences exist within E. maxima good protection against many strains of this species may be achieved by initial infection with the hybrid mixture of E. maxima.