Detection of Antibodies to Seven Priority Pathogens in Backyard Poultry in Trinidad, West Indies

Vet. Sci. 2018, 5(1), 11; doi:10.3390/vetsci5010011 Arianne Brown Jordan 1 , Pompei Bolfa 2 , Silvia Marchi 2 , Shakera Hemmings 3 , Tashard Major 3 , Rod Suepaul 1 , Lemar Blake 1 and Christopher Oura 1,* 1 Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, The University of the West Indies (St. Augustine), Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago 2 Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis 3 School of Veterinary Medicine, The University of the West Indies (St. Augustine), Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Received: 15 December 2017 / Revised: 12 January 2018 / Accepted: 17 January 2018 / Published: 20 January 2018 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Research Findings in Veterinary Medicine in the Caribbean Region) View Full-Text | Download PDF [207 KB, uploaded 20 January 2018] Abstract Backyard poultry farms in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) play a vital role in providing food and income for rural communities. There is currently no information on the presence and circulation of pathogens in backyard poultry farms in T&T, and little is known in relation to the potential risks of spread of these pathogens to the commercial poultry sector. In order to address this, serum samples were collected from 41 chickens on five backyard farms taken from selected locations in Trinidad. Samples were tested for antibodies to seven priority pathogens of poultry by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Antibodies were detected in 65% (CI 95%: 50–78%) of the sampled birds for Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), 67.5% (CI 95%: 52–80%) for Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), 10% (CI 95%: 4–23%) for Newcastle disease virus (NDV), 0% (CI 95%: 0–0%) for Avian influenza virus (AIV), 0% (CI 95%: 0–0%) for West Nile virus (WNV), 31.7% (CI 95%: 20–47%) for Mycoplasm gallisepticum/synoviae and 0% (CI 95%: 0–0%) for Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis. These results reveal the presence and circulation of important pathogens of poultry in selected backyard farms in Trinidad. The results provide important information which should be taken into consideration when assessing the risks of pathogen transmission between commercial and backyard poultry farms, as well as between poultry and wild birds. View Full-Text Keywords: chickens; Trinidad and Tobago; Avian influenza; infectious bronchitis virus; infectious bursal disease virus; Newcastle disease virus; West Nile virus; Salmonella enteritidis; Mycoplasma gallisepticum; Mycoplasma synoviae This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0). SciFeed Share & Cite This Article MDPI and ACS Style Brown Jordan, A.; Bolfa, P.; Marchi, S.; Hemmings, S.; Major, T.; Suepaul, R.; Blake, L.; Oura, C. Detection of Antibodies to Seven Priority Pathogens in Backyard Poultry in Trinidad, West Indies. Vet. Sci. 2018, 5, 11. Show more citation formats Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here. Article Metrics Article access statisticsFull-Text ViewsAbstract Views20. Jan21. Jan22. Jan23. Jan05010015020022. JanSum: 142Daily views: 17 For more information on the journal statistics, click here. Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view. Article Access Statistics