Coccivac-T displaces wild coccidia strains, restores anticoccidial sensitivity in turkeys

Coccivac-T restores the sensitivity of in-feed anticoccidials by displacing wild field strains of coccidia with sensitive vaccinal oocysts, says Dr. Charlie Broussard, US poultry technical service director, Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health.

“This is why the vaccine is being integrated more and more into coccidiosis-control programs by producers seeking to restore anticoccidial sensitivity,” Broussard says.

The only prerequisite: The vaccine must be used at least two or three cycles for the house to be thoroughly seeded down with vaccinal oocysts. At that point, producers can either rotate back to in-feed anticoccidials or stay with Coccivac-T. The latter option is particularly helpful to producers seeking to raise drug-free birds, he says.

HOW THE VACCINE WORKS

Coccivac-T, which is administered to day-of-age poults, provides a controlled, balanced dose of the most common types of coccidial species that affect turkeys and cause disease. “This starts the immunity-building process. Birds excrete, then ingest coccidia from the vaccine, reinfecting themselves. After two or more of these coccidial life cycles, poults develop full immunity against coccidiosis at an early age,” Broussard says.

In contrast, chemical anticoccidials work by suppressing the coccidial life cycle, which results in a slower process of immune development. Additionally, only resistant strains survive to reproduce, resulting in lost efficacy, poorer performance and even clinical coccidiosis. Anticoccidials known as ionophores reduce but don’t stop coccidial reproduction. If birds live long enough before slaughter, there’s enough coccidial-oocyst leakage to cause immunity to develop, but leakage can also result in subclinical coccidiosis late into the production cycle.

“We have extensive evidence from broilers indicating that coccidial challenges late during the production cycle are more costly than an early challenge because it’s when birds are growing and eating the most. This is likely to be the case with turkeys too,” he says.