An updated comprehensive review on ornithobacteriosis: A worldwide emerging avian respiratory disease

Abstract

Ornithobacteriosis is an important emerging respiratory disease of domestic and wild birds caused by Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale (ORT) bacterium. The disease has been detected in some countries since 1980, which rapidly spread worldwide later on. Ornithobacteriosis can transmit either horizontally or even vertically. Infection with ORT is mainly characterized by respiratory distress, poor performance, acute death, and a drop in egg production. However, the most characteristic necropsy lesions of dead turkeys and chickens are yoghurt like airsacculitis and pneumonia, usually unilateral. Unfortunately, infection with ORT was misdiagnosed in most of the poultry flocks due to similarity with other respiratory pathogens and the lack of the ideal protocols for diagnosis. Recently, some molecular and serological techniques have been used to detect the infection. Treatment of ORT with antibiotics is very difficult and variable as a result of acquired resistance. Many vaccines have been developed to counteract such infection in broiler, layers, and breeder chicken and turkey flocks. Inactivated, live, and sub-unit vaccines have been used with satisfactory results. Thus, this review paper aimed to address ornithobacteriosis, emphasizing the distribution, transmission, clinical picture, diagnosis, and disease control.