Optimising poultry flock health

“This impressive collection of chapters from leading international experts has been put together with care and consideration. It moves seamlessly from current knowledge of the major classes of poultry infectious diseases, through discussions on advances in methods for monitoring and prevention of disease, to bespoke considerations of best practice across different stages/parts of commercial production systems. With such breadth and depth, this volume should become a ‘go-to’ manual for anyone with an interest in poultry health." Professor Fiona Tomley, Royal Veterinary College, UK

"A publication with this outstanding team of authors and high-quality content has been long needed in the field of poultry science. It is both a scientific text and a practitioner manual that will be highly appreciated by scholars, students, poultry industry personnel and anyone interested in the veterinary sciences." Professor Paulo Eduardo Brandão, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil

Diseases remain a significant burden to poultry production and its future, with outbreaks of disease resulting in catastrophic financial losses to the sector. Whilst it is widely recognised that vaccines have a major role in inducing protection, they can only be considered as part of the solution to this rapidly growing problem.

Optimising poultry flock health instead reviews ways of optimising preventative measures to reduce the risk of disease in flocks. The book reviews the wealth of recent research on the mechanisms of transmission for infectious diseases and how this understanding can be used to improve poultry flock health.

By showing how poultry flock health can be optimised at different stages of production, the book showcases the extent of preventative measures available to farmers and producers, as well as how these measures can be implemented effectively to protect their flocks against disease.

Edited by an expert internationally recognised for his research contribution on viruses affecting poultry, Optimising poultry flock health will be a standard reference for university and other researchers in poultry and food science, producers, farmers, governments and private sector agencies involved in supporting poultry production.

Dr Sjaak de Wit is Professor of Integrated Poultry Health at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. He is also a Senior Researcher at Royal GD (formerly GD Animal Health), one of the world’s leading organisations for the diagnosis and prevention of livestock diseases, with responsibility for testing systems for poultry diseases. Professor de Wit is Post President of the European College of Poultry Veterinary Science (ECPVS), Junior Vice President of the World Veterinary Poultry Association (WVPA) as well as an Associate Editor for Avian Pathology. Professor de Wit is internationally known for his research on viruses affecting poultry.

Dr Sjaak de Wit is a Senior Researcher at Royal GD (formerly GD Animal Health) and is also Professor of Integrated Poultry Health at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. He is Post President of the European College of Poultry Veterinary Science (ECPVS), Junior Vice President of the World Veterinary Poultry Association (WVPA) as well as an Associate Editor for Avian Pathology. Professor de Wit is internationally known for his research on viruses affecting poultry.

Dr. Banda is a clinical professor in veterinary virology with the Department of Pathobiology and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi State University, and he is the section leader of the poultry and mammalian virology and serology laboratories at the Mississippi Veterinary Research and Diagnostic Lab. He is a diplomate of both the American College of Poultry Veterinarians (ACPV), and the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (ACVM). Dr. Banda has either authored or co-authored twenty articles related to poultry diseases in peer reviewed journals, and he is member of the editorial committee of Avian Diseases.

Dr. Ing. Ron Meijerhof received his PhD from Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands. He worked for 13 years at the Centre for Applied Poultry Research in The Netherlands, before establishing Poultry Performance Plus - a consultancy company.

Dr. Edgar O. Oviedo-Rondón is a Professor and Extension Specialist in the Prestage Department of Poultry Science at North Carolina State University. He received his Veterinary degree from the University of Tolima in Colombia. Edgar obtained his M.S. in Animal Nutrition and Production in Brazil at the State University of Maringa, Ph.D. in Poultry Science at the University of Arkansas, and in 2018 an MBA from NC State University. Dr. Oviedo has experience in the poultry industry as a Veterinarian, Nutritionist, Extension Specialist, and Consultant in 32 countries. Dr. Oviedo is author or co-author of 101 peer-review publications in Scientific Journals, 320 Proceedings of International Meetings, 302 abstracts of presentations in Scientific Meetings of National and International level, 97 popular press articles, 10 book chapters and 4 books.