Flock management and histomoniasis in free-range turkeys in France: description and search for potential risk factors

• Published in: Epidemiology and infection Vol. 138; no. 3; pp. 353 - 363
• Main Authors: CALLAIT-CARDINAL, M. P., GILOT-FROMONT, E., CHOSSAT, L., GONTHIER, A., CHAUVE, C., ZENNER, L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.03.2010
• Subjects: Agriculture; Animal Husbandry - methods; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Birds and Humans; Datasets; Diarrhea; Disease prevention; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Factorials; Farmers; Farms; Flocks; France - epidemiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Histomonas meleagridis; histomoniasis; Hypotheses; infectious disease epidemiology; Investigations; Lesions; Microbiology; Morbidity; Mortality; Pathogens; Potable water; poultry; Poultry Diseases - parasitology; Poultry Diseases - transmission; Protozoan infections; Protozoan Infections - epidemiology; Protozoan Infections - transmission; Questionnaires; risk assessment; Risk Factors; Turkeys; Variables; Wildfowl; Turkey; France; Asia; Europe; Mediterranean Basin; Middle east; United States > US; infectious disease epidemiology; risk assessment; poultry; histomoniasis; Histomonas meleagridis; Infection; Human; Protozoal disease; Histomoniasis; Description; Risk factor; Parasitosis; Epidemiology
• ISSN: 0950-2688; 1469-4409
• DOI: 10.1017/S0950268809990562

The relationship between flock management and histomoniasis, a re-emergent infection in poultry, was investigated by statistical techniques used in veterinary epidemiology to deal with various problems including: multicollinearity, confounding, interaction or sample size. Associations between the variables describing flock management were examined by multivariate descriptive analysis to reduce the number of independent variables, prior to investigating associations with the disease. No homogenous groups of farms were found in the 44 free-range turkey flocks sampled in France. Histomonas meleagridis was identified in 26/38 flocks and histomoniasis was confirmed in 19 flocks. Cleanliness of the building, wet litter and diarrhoea were linked with H. meleagridis and severity of histomoniasis. Sharing outdoor fields simultaneously with chickens was related to serious macroscopic lesions determined by post-mortem examinations. Contrary to general belief, acidification of drinking water with organic acid had consistent association with the presence of H. meleagridis in turkey caeca. These results confirm previous findings and provide several new hypotheses on the effects of hygiene and water management on H. meleagridis and histomoniasis.