One of the most common and alarming diseases is Marek’s disease.
Marek’s disease also known as “chicken paralysis” is a highly contagious viral neoplastic disease between poultry. This is one of the most frustrating health problems in poultry farming. In this post we will answer a fairly common question on this topic: Is there a cure or treatment for this disease?
Can chickens recover from Marek’s disease?
This “chicken paralysis” is very worrying, one of its many reasons is because there is no treatment for it. This means chickens can never fully recover form Marek’s disease. Unfortunately, there is only one way to fight Marek’s disease: prevention.
This disease can cause more signs similar to other diseases, as it weakens the bird’s immunity putting it at greater risk for other infections.
Once a bird has been infected, even if it gets over the initial infection, it goes on to shed virus-laden dander everywhere, for the rest of its life.
Do the Marek’s disease vaccines work?
For many poultry keepers it is best to vaccinate or buy birds that are vaccinated, but this does not guarantee anything. These vaccines keep the virus at bay, but it can still replicate.
For example: A vaccinated chicken can be exposed and even if it does not get sick, or its disease is reduced, it will become a carrier and can spread to other birds.
But even if the vaccines do not eliminate the disease, it is important to use them anyway. You can make a control through the vaccination of all the animals, during their first 24 hours of life. This will protect the birds during their entire life.
The vaccine must be applied to the newly born birds before they leave the incubation plant. Unfortunately, in severe cases, it is more advisable to sacrifice the animals and disinfect the corrals.
The handling of the birds, the vaccination to try to contain the damages produced and the biosecurity rules are the adequate ways to avoid this disease.
Some important tips to protect your chickens from Marek’s disease:
- Keep cages clean to avoid contagious particles.
- Wash the walls of the cages with detergent and disinfectant.
- Shake the cages well periodically and walls so that the particles are carried away by the wind and leave our facilities.
- Older birds are more resistant to this disease, so it is recommended to keep adult birds and chicks separated until 5 months of age.
Marek’s disease progresses very quickly after the onset of symptoms. Generally, chickens die within 24 to 72 hours or recover to some extent.
Detecting the problem in time and consulting with your veterinarian about the measures you can take for its recovery can make the difference in saving the animal but just in particular cases.
This disease is one of the most frustrating, especially because some animals have no symptoms, but can lose their lives at any moment.
Therefore, we hope this information will help you know a little more about this disease and take into account its severity, symptoms and how you can prevent it and better protect your birds.
