Coccidiosis In Poultry Can Be Controlled By A Local Vaccine- Claimed

M. Mazhar Ayaz and Masood Akhtar

Immunoparasitology Laboratory

Department of Veterinary Parasitology

By Scientists Of University Of Agriculture-Faisalabad

Coccidiosis in one of the major menace for poultry industry causes heavy economic losses world wide. The disease is commonly called as Red Dysentry (Khuni pachish). Coccidiosis may be Intestinal or caecal caused by intracellular protozoa, belonging to the genus Eimeria (Phylum Apicomplexa).

The disease is characterized by bloody diarrhoea, emaciation, ruffled feather and loss of apatite. More or less about 300 species of genus Eimeria has been known and recorded in birds and mammals. It is estimated that the economic losses due to the disease are about US$ 450 million and due to medication are about US$ 100 million in the United States. In countries like Pakistan, where the farming is substandard, the disease becomes more serious and causes heavy economic losses; although the exact losses due to coccidiosis in Pakistan are not known due to the lack of statistical indices but these will be definite in million of rupees.

Seven species of genus Eimeria (E.) including E. tenella, E. acervulina, E. maxima, E. necatrix, E. mitis, E. praecox and E. brunetti are generally accepted to be the causative agent of avian coccidiosis. E. tenella and E. maxima are considered to be the most important to the poultry industry from consideration of their ubiquity in broiler chicks, innate pathogenicity and immunological features. In Pakistan E. tenella is the most prevalent and pathogenic species.