Guangwen Wang from Shan Dong Agricultural University in Tai'an and colleagues report the first outbreak of duck plague confirmed in four tissue samples that were collected since August 2012 from the north-western region of Shandong province, China. Of these, three were collected from commercial Jin-ding variety layer ducks and one from Cherry Valley meat-breeding ducks.

In Poultry Science, they report that the sick ducks - aged between seven and 49 weeks old - were characterised by typical symptoms and necroscopic features of duck plague.

The flocks experienced high morbidity and mortality rates, and decreased production performance, which led to tremendous economic losses.

The diagnosis of duck plague infection was confirmed by comprehensive analyses of epidemiological data, clinical signs, necroscopic features, histopathological examinations and virus isolation and identification.

According to the laws of the People’s Republic of China on Animal Epidemic Prevention, emergency measures were implemented to control the outbreak, which included slaughter of the infected flocks and proper disposal of the bodies, manure and other wastes, disinfection and thorough cleaning of the duck facilities, fields, tools, utensils, and devices, as well as emergency vaccination of the threatened flocks and the implementations of revised immunisation procedures.

In their full paper, Wang and co-authors analyse and discuss the possible causes of the outbreak and the prevalence of the virus in Shandong province.

Reference

Wang G., Y. Qu, F. Wang, D. Hu, L. Liu, N. Li, R. Yue, C. Li and S. Liu. 2013. The comprehensive diagnosis and prevention of duck plague in northwest Shandong province of China. Poult. Sci. 92(11):2892-2898. doi: 10.3382/ps.2013-03356