Coccidiosis continues to have a profound impact on the poultry industry across various countries. The prevalence of this disease occurs more in environments with high humidity and temperature, which especially poses a major challenge for poultry farms in countries with warm and humid climates. It leads to decreased production, increased mortality rates, and financial losses, directly resulting in increased prices of poultry products and a shortage of supply. Farmers in different countries are leaning towards additional management and prevention strategies to face this challenge, which increases the operational costs of the poultry industry.

Coccidiosis

Ways of Disease Transmission

The primary route of infection for coccidiosis is through contaminated water or food with infected feces. Eggs (oocysts) of the pathogen from the feces of infected birds are spread in the environment, which, when consumed or drunk by other birds, enter their intestines and cause infection. Additionally, through dust, clothes of workers in the shed, bags of feed, and supplied water. Essentially, the pathogen remains inactive in nature until it finds a temperature between 21 to 32 degrees Celsius, 55% humidity, and oxygen, at which point it becomes active. And these favorable conditions are present in farms.

Prevention

• Pay attention to cleanliness and hygiene on the farm.

• Regularly change the litter.

• Take necessary measures if the litter is too moist. For more information, go to the chicken litter management page.

• Provide high-quality food and water supply systems. For more information, visit the poultry feed and water management for chicken farming page.

• Based on the number of chickens, adequate space must be arranged. Overcrowding in a small space is not acceptable.

• If the number of affected chickens is low, then the infected chickens should be isolated in an ICU setup.

• Ensure that commercial poultry feed includes "coccidiostats"; if providing homemade food, mix "coccidiostats" with the feed.

• Regular veterinary visits to your farm must be arranged.

Disease Introduction

Coccidiosis is a parasitic disease that primarily affects chickens and other poultry birds. Its pathogen, a protozoa of the Eimeria species, enters the intestines of the bird and proliferates within the cells, causing intestinal damage and bleeding.

The life cycle of the coccidiosis pathogen is mainly divided into several stages. Initially, the eggs of the pathogen are spread in the environment through infected feces. When birds consume these eggs through contaminated water or food, the eggs enter the bird's intestines and transform into sporozoites. Following this, the sporozoites enter the intestinal cells and begin to divide into trophozoites. After the division phase, these trophozoites become gametocytes and eventually turn into new eggs, which are then spread into the environment again through the bird's feces.