Using Prophylactic Salmonella Immune Lymphokines to Resist the Avian Influenza in Broiler Chickens
Abstract
Objective: The current study aimed to increase the resistance of broiler chickens against Avian Influenza Virus (AIV) type H5N8. Early infections with AIV are caused by weak immunity, whether maternal or acquired immunity from vaccinations and all the AIV vaccines are killed vaccines that provide absolute protection after three weeks of vaccination, which makes the chicks susceptible to infection at an early age. Our goal is to enhance the immune resistance against avian influenza at an early age by using immune lymphokines from hyperimmunized chickens with Salmonella enteriditis. Materials and Methods: The experiment was carried out on 250 broiler chicks divided into five groups, with 50 chicks per group. All groups were treated at the first day as follows: G1: injected with Salmonella-immune lymphokines (S-ILK) intraperitoneally after a 30 min intramuscular challenge with AIV (H5N8). G2: Salmonella-nonimmune lymphokines (S-NILK) were injected intraperitoneally after a 30 min intramuscular challenge with AIV (H5N8). G3: injected with S-ILK without a challenge with AIV (H5N8). G4: only challenged with AIV (H5N8) and considered a positive control group. G5: not treated and not challenged and considered a negative control group. Results: The results of the present study showed a significant increase (p<0.05) in the antibody titre in all treated groups, except the G3 and G5 groups, which were not challenged. The G1 group recorded a moderate increase in antibodies with the lowest mortality rate, followed by the G2 group, compared to the G4 group, which recorded a 100% mortality rate on day 28 after challenge. The results of the viral load revealed the highest number of the influenza RNA copies in the G4 group compared with the G1 group, which recorded the lowest number of RNA copies that did not pose a serious risk to the lives of infected birds, followed by G2. Conclusion: Giving S-ILK at early ages increases the immune resistance against avian influenza (H5N8), which in turn compensates for live vaccines at early ages.
Keywords:
Avian influenza, ELISA, immune lymphokines, Salmonella enteritidis, viral loadArticle Metrics
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