{"id":38624,"date":"2020-09-11T13:59:44","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T17:59:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/?p=38624"},"modified":"2021-07-19T16:24:23","modified_gmt":"2021-07-19T20:24:23","slug":"how-uga-is-keeping-the-poultry-industry-and-its-birds-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/how-uga-is-keeping-the-poultry-industry-and-its-birds-healthy\/","title":{"rendered":"How UGA is keeping the poultry industry and its birds healthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”text-container”]For Naola Ferguson-Noel<\/a>, every day working on avian mycoplasma is like a real-life game of Clue.<\/p>\n

Figure out which flocks are infected. Find where the bacteria came from. And decide what you\u2019re going to do about it.<\/p>\n

Mycoplasmas are everywhere, and they infect a bunch of different species, including humans. But in poultry, the bacteria are especially prevalent and can cost millions in lost egg production and dead birds\u2014driving up costs for farmers and consumers.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something Ferguson-Noel is committed to fixing.<\/p>\n

A major challenge: Antibiotic resistance
\nFor years, the go-to treatment for mycoplasmosis has been antibiotics. But growing resistance and the push to lower the use of antibiotics in food animals has been pushing the industry to find new ways to keep birds healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, if you have a bacterial infection, you can treat if with antibiotics, it clears up the infection and you\u2019re done,\u201d said Ferguson-Noel, a professor in the University of Georgia\u2019s College of Veterinary Medicine<\/a>. \u201cMycoplasma doesn\u2019t work that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike most other bacteria, mycoplasmas lack a cell wall, which is one of the main targets for many antibiotics. This makes the bacteria inherently resistant to antibiotics like penicillin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt tends to be very difficult to treat, and it\u2019s a long-term process. It\u2019s very difficult to clean it up and get the situation under control.\u201d<\/p>\n

Figuring out which birds need meds is another hurdle.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to spot an infected bird before it starts showing symptoms of respiratory distress or joint issues. But by then the animal might\u2019ve been bred and already passed down the infection to its offspring. And if one bird in the flock gets it, the rest likely will too.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., poultry farmers benefit from decades of control efforts so that only a few flocks may be affected and they are able to cull flocks with the disease without losing too much money, but in other countries where almost all the birds are positive, that\u2019s not an option.<\/p>\n

Ferguson-Noel spends a lot of her time traveling the globe giving keynotes on mycoplasmosis and the latest ways to eradicate the disease. She also diagnoses birds with the conditions and helps poultry farmers figure out the best option for how to take care of the problem.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section css=”.vc_custom_1567710408463{background-color: #e4ddc7 !important;}” el_class=”fw-polygon”][vc_row equal_height=”yes” bg_type=”bg_color”][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1567710326062{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;border-bottom-width: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;}” el_class=”polygon-wrapper”][vc_raw_html el_class=”polygon” css=”.vc_custom_1626374128000{background-image: url(https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/07\/Ferguson-Noel-Naola.jpg?id=38626) !important;}”]JTNDJTIxLS1sZWF2ZSUyMHRoaXMlMjBlbXB0eS0tJTNF[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″ el_class=”polygon-content”][vc_column_text el_class=”testimonial”]\u201cPeople are very concerned about their food and where their food comes from. And I think that it is important to know that we as an industry, as veterinarians, are thinking about the future.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”credit”]<\/p>\n

\u2013 Naola Ferguson-Noel, associate professor, Department of Population Health, College of Veterinary Medicine<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s easier to prevent disease than to control an outbreak<\/h2>\n

A variety of mycoplasma vaccines have been on the market since the 1960s, but they\u2019re not all equally effective at battling the bacteria and are sometimes an ordeal to administer.<\/p>\n

Partnering with the poultry industry, Ferguson-Noel and her team currently have four patents for new vaccines and are testing their efficacy. Inoculating huge flocks of birds is both time and labor intensive, though, so frequently farmers try to optimize the their use of vaccines \u2013 like spraying the birds, even when the vaccine itself isn\u2019t officially approved for use in spray form. Ferguson-Noel and the team at UGA\u2019s Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center<\/a> are one of relatively few places equipped to test whether those alternate approaches are effective at keeping the birds disease-free.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are very concerned about their food and where their food comes from,\u201d Ferguson-Noel said. \u201cAnd I think that it is important to know that we as an industry, as veterinarians, are thinking about the future. We have kids too, and we don\u2019t want to hand them a world where we have a whole bunch of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. We are doing our best to produce safe, healthy chicken. Whether it involves reducing antibiotics, implementing more vaccines, whether it is improving the environment\u2014we do really care about the welfare of our birds.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html el_class=”container”]JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjIxMDAlMjUlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjI3MDAlMjIlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbSUyRmVtYmVkJTJGZmttSGtWbkZNQWMlM0ZyZWwlM0QwJTIyJTIwdGl0bGUlM0QlMjJZb3VUdWJlJTIwdmlkZW8lMjBwbGF5ZXIlMjIlMjBmcmFtZWJvcmRlciUzRCUyMjAlMjIlMjBhbGxvdyUzRCUyMmFjY2VsZXJvbWV0ZXIlM0IlMjBhdXRvcGxheSUzQiUyMGNsaXBib2FyZC13cml0ZSUzQiUyMGVuY3J5cHRlZC1tZWRpYSUzQiUyMGd5cm9zY29wZSUzQiUyMHBpY3R1cmUtaW4tcGljdHVyZSUyMiUyMGFsbG93ZnVsbHNjcmVlbiUzRSUzQyUyRmlmcmFtZSUzRQ==[\/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text el_class=”image-caption container”]Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation, describes how UGA research is impacting the poultry industry.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section css=”.vc_custom_1567780280331{background-color: #000000 !important;}” el_class=”white research-spotlight”][vc_row el_class=”text-container”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”38631″ img_size=”200×200″ alignment=”right” style=”vc_box_circle_2″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_raw_html css=”.vc_custom_1567780668979{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]JTNDcCUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIyc3ViaGVhZGluZyUyMiUzRUFib3V0JTIwdGhlJTIwUmVzZWFyY2hlciUzQyUyRnAlM0U=[\/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text el_class=”white”]<\/p>\n

Naola Ferguson-Noel<\/h3>\n

Associate Professor
\nDepartment of Population Health
\nCollege of Veterinary Medicine
\nPoultry Diagnostic and Research Center[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”text-container” css=”.vc_custom_1626375679837{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”]<\/p>\n

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