How to treat Infectious Bursal Disease (Gumboro) in Poultry Birds

Infectious Bursal Disease (Gumboro) is a highly contagious viral disease of young domesticated chickens. The morbidity rate of this disease is high as compared to its mortality rate. So if your birds are infected with IBD then don’t be worry, because this article will help you a lot. In this article, we will learn every minute detail about Gumboro. So let’s get into detail.

What is Infectious Bursal Disease?

Infectious Bursal Disease is also known as Gumboro. It is a viral disease that is caused by IBDV. Chickens at the age of 3-6 weeks are highly susceptible to IBD. This viral disease affects the immune system of chickens by decreasing the production of B-lymphocytes in the Bursa of Fabricius.

Cause of Gumboro in Chickens:

Gumboro or Infectious Bursal Disease is caused by birnavirus ( infectious bursal disease virus: IBDV ). This virus spreads through either direct contact or by some mechanical spread. There are two serotypes of IBDV. Type 1 is the major cause of gumboro in young chickens. Type 2 of IBDV is responsible for causing infectious bursal disease in turkeys also.

The main thing to note here is, type 2 serotype of IBDV is not responsible for clinical disease and immunosuppression.

Symptoms of Infectious Bursal Disease:

The intensity of infection depends upon chicken breeds, age, and virulence of the virus. Infection may be clinical or subclinical. Subclinical infection occurs mostly at 3 weeks of age. Clinical infections occur when chickens wane from the mother’s immunity. The symptoms of clinical infection appear because of the piling of immature B lymphocytes around the cloaca.

A large mortality ratio is the indicator of subclinical infection. Actually, the main cause of these deaths is the destruction of immature B-lymphocytes around the bursa of fabrics. This destruction leads to immunosuppression. Humoral immunity is most severely affected, the cell-mediated immune response is affected to a lesser extent.

The signs and symptoms are most obvious in clinical infections. In clinical infections, the onset of the disease occurs after an incubation of 3–4 days. The clinical signs and symptoms of infectious bursal disease are:

• Dehydration beacuse of watery diarrhea
• Ruffled feathers
• Atrophy of cloacal muscles
• Yellowish exudate around cloaca
• Soiled vent feathers
• Vent picking
• Inflammation of cloaca
• Slight tremor at onset of the disease

You may notice that the infected birds have unsteady gait. A sudden rise in body temperature is followed by a drop to subnormal temperature, prostration, and death. 

Postmortem Findings:

The lesions are the major findings during necropsy. The type of lesions may vary and it depends upon the type of IBDV. The virus that causes clinical infection produces yellowish, edematous lesions around the bursa. The swelling is also an obvious sign in such findings.

Some IBDV strains can cause atrophy of the cloacal bursa without the appearance of gross lesions in that organ.

Long story short during the postmortem, all affected birds have bursal changes and these changes are

1. Swelling of Bursa of Fabricus
2. Oblong shape of bursa
3. Color change
4. Formation of a gelatinous film around the bursa

Diagnosis of Gumboro in Chickens:

Both macroscopic and microscopic lesions can help in the diagnosis of gumboro in chickens. But these lesions can confuse the pathologist with other viral infections like Coccidiosis and Marek’s disease. So, for better confirmation of Infectious Bursa Disease molecular detection of the viral VP2 gene is to be done by using RT-PCR.

Initially, the diagnosis is accomplished by examining the gross lesions around the cloaca then microscopic analysis of the bursa for lymphocyte depletion in the follicles should be done. For an accurate diagnosis, reverse transcriptase PCR is used to identify the viral genome in bursa tissue. This is how the diagnosis is done.

Treatment of Infectious Bursal Disease:

There is no specific treatment for infectious bursal disease. Vaccines are used to prevent this problem in poultry chickens. Certain supportive measures can help a lot in the prevention of Gumboro in chickens like increasing heat, ventilation, and increase water consumption, etc.

Live vaccines can be administered by eye drop, drinking water, or SC routes at 1–21 days of age.

Prevention of Infectious Bursal Disease:

There are two ways to prevent Gumboro in chicken birds.

• Regularly monitor the vaccination schedule
• Maintain strict biosecurity

Conclusion:

Infectious Bursal Disease is a viral disease that is caused by birnavirus. The virus infects immature B-lymphocytes and causes immune suppression.

Lesions and clinical signs are the best way to diagnose IBD. Although no treatment is available, vaccines are used to boost immunity. Most vaccines administer in breeder flocks to induce maternal immunity in young chicks.

This is all about Gumboro. Hope you will get your required answer about IBD.