Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE: SOFT GEL VAc~CINE DELIVERY SYSTEM FOR IMMUNIZING
POULTRY
Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a soft gel vaccine
delivery system fo:r immunizing poultry in the hatchery.
In particular the present invention relates to a delivery
system for use in a hatchery conveyor system or as part
of a debeaking app<~ratus.
Backcrround of the invention
At the preseni~ time, poultry hatchlings, within the
first few days of :Life, are required to be immunized
against various di:~eases and the type of vaccine used for
each disease dictai~es its method of administration.
Attenuated vaccine: are usually administered in the
hatchery by injection at the time of sorting of the
2o hatchlings from the hatching incubator into holding or
transporting trays. Live vaccines are more commonly
administered once the hatchlings are established in their
brooding areas in the form of aqueous suspensions either
sprayed on feed or added to the drinking water.
One example of a live vaccine is that used to
immunize poultry against coccidiosis caused by protozoa
of the genus Eimeria. Coccidiosis is a very common
disease of poultry and there are several species of
3o Eimeria which are known to cause such disease. The
symptoms and severity of the disease are dependent upon
the species of Eimeria with which the bird is infected
with E.tenella, E.acervulina and E.maxima being three of
the most prevalent species in commercial chickens. At
the present time, t:he protection of poultry against
coccidiosis involves two possible methods - use of
anticoccidials as feed additives or immunization using a
coccidiosis vaccine with immunization being increasingly
the preferred route. Coccidiosis vaccines are at present
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comprised of an attenuated species of: coccidia in a
suitable carrier for administration, the coccidia being
capable of causing a mild form of the disease and
selected to be ant:icoccidial susceptible.
One common method of immunization against
coccidiosis involves the use of on-feed spray
administration while the birds are feeding from flats or
other containers. A vaccine comprising oocysts of
Eimeria species in a water based carrier is sprayed onto
the feed to be provided to the hatchlings. The use of
on-feed spray administration requires large doses of
oocysts and uniform exposure of the flocks to the vaccine
cannot always be achieved.
Vaccine may also be administered through the use of
water proportioning systems including' automatic fountains
and automatic water medicator or proportioners. However,
given the particulate nature of coccidiosis vaccines, it
is doubtful that the vaccine may actually make it to the
distal end of the water line, resulting in uneven
exposure of the flock. Additionally, administration of
the vaccine through the water proportioning system
requires that after administration of the vaccine, the
proportioning system be thoroughly cleaned to remove .any
residual vaccine.
The administration of vaccine in the drinking water
requires that the oocysts remain suspended to provide for
3o even exposure of the flock. One solution to this has
been proposed by the present applicant in Canadian Patent
1,204,057, which involves suspending the oocysts in a
1.5o carrageenan solution. While this method has
numerous advantage,, such as reduced levels of oocysts
necessary to provic!_e immunization as ;cell as ease of
administration, there is still a drawback in that the
provision of open watering systems to hatchlings could
result in the liquid being spilled or wetting the
hatchlings which could potentially affect the health of
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the hatchlings, especially in cold weather and durincr
transportation whe:rl hatchlings are vaccinated in the
hatchery.
Another method of administering vaccine is through
the use of a spray cabinet which is utilized in the
hatchery to spray 'the hatchlings with a liquid form of
the vaccine. A flat or tray of hatchlings commonly
containing about 100 birds is placed in the spray cabinet
and a predetermined dose of liquid vaccine is sprayed.
directly on the birds. It is expected that as the birds
preen they will ingest the vaccine from their feathers.
This method suffer; some drawbacks ir.~ that uniform
exposure of all of the hatchlings may not be easily
achieved because constant stirring is' required to keep
oocysts suspended. In addition, as the birds are being
sprayed with a liquid vaccine solution, then there is a
risk that the hatchlings may become too wet which may
affect the health of the birds.
A gel form of a coccidiosis vaccine has been
described in PCT application WO 96/25,951, published
August 29th 1996. The gel form vaccine of this
application is a self-supporting or sliceable vaccine
which is formed into a cylinder which is in turn sliced
to give a proper amount of the vaccine for each tray of
the hatchlings. Alternatively the vaccine may be gelled
to into a suitable watering trough. While this vaccine
overcomes the potential problem of wetting of the birds,
it dogs require that the hatchery workers handle the gel
form to place it irl the hatchery tray.
There thus remains a need for a simplified vaccine
for administration of vaccine to hatchlings in the
hatchery, which provides adequate protection of the f:Lock
while reducing potential problem areas.
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Summarv of the invention
The present invention is directed to a method of
treating poultry hatchlings with a therapeutic agent in a
hatchling tray. The method comprises providing the
therapeutic agent in a soft gel form capable of being
dispensed through a spray nozzle, providing a spray
dispensing apparatus, the apparatus being capable of
1o delivering a predetermined volume of the gel through a
metered pump as a plurality of small beadlets through a
spray nozzle, placing the hatchling tray containing the
hatchlings beneath the spray nozzles of the dispensing
apparatus, dispensing the predetermined volume of the
soft gel containing the therapeutic agent as small
beadlets into the hatchling tray, and. allowing the
hatchlings to consume the beadlets.
In an aspect the present invention is also directed
2o to a dispensing apparatus for dispensing a therapeutic
agent in a soft ge~'._ into a hatchling tray of poultry
hatchlings. Unlike suspension in water, oocysts in the
soft gel, after preparation with a mixer will remain
suspended without further agitation. The apparatus
comprises a receiver for receiving the hatchling tray,
the receiver having a top attached along two opposing
edges to two side walls extending generally perpendicular
to the top, the side walls having a height to space the
top above the hatchling tray and being spaced apart a
3o distance to straddle the tray. The top is provided with
one or more spray nozzles sized to permit a soft gel to
pass therethrough and be dispersed in the form of small
beadlets when placed under air pressure. The spray
nozzle is connected to a metered pump capable of
dispensing a predetermined volume under pressure, and the
dispenser is connected to a reservoir for containing the
soft gel in a flowable form.
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Brief description of the drawings
Preferred embodiments of the present invention are
illustrated in the attached drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a side elevation view of a first
embodiment of a delivery system of the present invention
for use in association with a hatchery conveyor system;
i0 Figure 2 is side elevation view of the delivery
system of figure 1;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a second
embodiment of the delivery system of the present
invention; and
Detailed description of the preferred embodiments
The present invention is directed to a soft flowable
gel vaccine and a delivery system for delivering the
vaccine for the purpose of immunizing poultry in the
hatchery. The soft: flowable gel vaccine is capable of
being pumped and delivered directly to the poultry
hatchling. The soft gel vaccine is dispensed as a
plurality of small beadlets which contain the vaccinating
organism and which are easily capable of being ingested
by the poultry hatc:hling. The gel vaccine beadlets
retain their moisture content to maintain the viability
of the live vaccinating organisms during the dispensing
and consumption of the vaccine. The beadlets do not
allow the moisture to escape and minimize the potential
wetting of the biraa.
The soft flowable gel vaccine utilizes a suitable
setting agent that can form the soft gel at relatively
low concentrations to allow the vaccine to contain mostly
water. The suitable setting agent is preferably a
polysaccharide setting agent which sets rapidly to
maintain the organisms in a relatively uniform disper:~ion
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throughout the soft flowable gel vaccine. More
preferably the setting agent is a carrageenan or alginate
setting agent which may set either through a change in
temperature or through the use of a suitable setting
catalyst. Most preferably the setting agent is a kappa
or lambda carrageenan setting agent which sets through a
change in temperature or through the use of a setting
catalyst. If a catalytic based setting is chosen, th.e
amount of catalyst and its addition has to be controlled
1o to control the formation of the soft flowable gel within
minutes to maintain a uniform gel and a uniform
dispersion of the :immunizing organisms throughout the
gel.
The soft gel vaccine of the present invention
provides for an easy to handle method of vaccinating
poultry hatchlings in the hatchery and is, therefore,
suitable for general hatchery workers without any special
expertise required. The gel form is produced utilizing
2o an edible temperature setting polysaccharide gel,
preferably a low temperature setting alginate or
carrageenan gel, more preferably a lambda or kappa
carrageenan gel and most preferably a water soluble
lambda-type carrageenan extracted from the red algae
Eucheuma cottonii.
The soft gel vaccine is prepared by dissolving the
gel powder in water. at a suitable temperature to effect
complete dissolution of the polysaccharide powder. The
3o powder is added to the water at a concentration such
that, when mixed with a suspension of immunizing
organisms and allowed to gel, a soft flowable gel
results. Typically, the dissolved gel powder and oocy;st
suspension are then mixed at a ratio of gel powder to
oocyst suspension dissolved about 1:1 (V/V) to about 20:1
(V/V) prepare the ~~oft gel vaccine. Suitable such ge:1
forms have been found to have a final concentration o:E
the edible polysaccharide in the gel form of between
about 0.6 and 1.5 percent, preferably between about 0.6
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and 1 percent, more preferably between about 0.8 and 1.0
percent and most p=referably about 1.0 percent. Thus
preferably, where }she ratio of dissolved gel powder to
oocysts suspension is about 1s1 (V/V) a dissolved
polysaccharide gel solution of about 1.2 to 3 percent,
preferably about 1.2 to 2 percent, more preferably about
1.6 to 2.0 percent, most preferably about 2.0 percent, is
mixed with an equa:L volume of a suspension of oocysts and
the mixture allowed to gel.
The gel form vaccine of the present invention has
sufficient levels of the immunizing organisms to provide
immunization to the flock. It has been found that for
the method of the present invention about 15 to 50 ml of
gel for every 100 birds is used, preferably about 20 to
30 ml, more preferably about 20 to 25 ml, most preferably
about 25 ml of the gel and the concentration of the
immunizing organisr:~s in the gel should be such as to
provide sufficient organisms in this typical volume to
immunize the hatch7_ings. It has been found that for
between about 50 and 1,000 oocysts per bird provides
adequate protection and so it is preferred if the soft
gel Eimeria has between about 200 and 4000 oocysts pe:r ml
of gel, to provide for proper immunization of the flock.
Preferably, the soft gel vaccine contains between abo,at
200 and 400 oocysts per ml of gel, most preferably about
250 oocysts per ml of gel. For a soft gel prepared by
mixing the dissolved polysaccharide powder with the
oocyst suspension in a ratio of about 1:1 (V/V), one
3o volume of a 1 to 3 % polysaccharide gel solution is mixed
with an equal volume of oocyst suspension containing
between about 400 a.nd 8,000 oocysts per ml, more
preferably one volume of a 1.2 to 2 percent
polysaccharide solution with an equal volume of oocyst:
suspension containing between about 400 and 800 oocyst~s
per ml, most preferably a 2.0 percent solution of
polysaccharide solution is mixed with an equal volume of
oocyst suspension containing about 500 oocysts per ml.
The soft gel vaccine may also be prepared by mixing the
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dissolved polysacc:E~aride powder with a concentrated
oocyst suspension at a higher ratio of dissolved gel
powder to oocysts ;suspension up to about 20:1 (V/V). For
example 2 liters o:f a 1 to 2o polysaccharide solution may
be mixed with 120 ml of an oocyst suspension containing a
total of about 1.5 to 3 x 106 oocysts to prepare the :soft
gel vaccine.
The use of the edible polysaccharide gels of the
1o present invention results in a gel which sets rapidly
generally in about 5 minutes or less. This maintains the
vaccine organisms in uniform suspension and allows for
more uniform exposure of the poultry hatchlings to the
immunizing organisms. The low content of the edible gum
in the soft gel means that approximately 95 percent or
more of the gel is water which can aid in the hydration
of the bird and induce the feeding response. The soft
gel has other advantages over liquid suspensions in that
the gel will not wet the bird as much and therefore will
2o not affect the hea7_th of the chicks, particularly in
winter when, if the hatchling becomes wet through
exposure to aqueous solution, the exposure may cause
death of the hatchling.
The use of the edible polysaccharide gel of the
present invention which gels rapidly is also suitable for
adding nitrogen nutrients and other additives such as
vitamins to the gel form or competitive exclusion
products such as "E>ROILACT~~ sold by Orion Corp., Finl<~nd.
This is especially useful with heat sensitive nutrients
which, if exposed t.o temperatures over about 50°C, are
denatured or inactivated.
The amount of the polysaccharide setting agent i:~
selected to form a soft flowable gel. If too much
setting agent is used the gel is not easily flowable and
thus is difficult to pump through the delivery system.
If too little setting agent is used the gel form may not
maintain the immunizing organisms in a relatively uniform
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suspension. In addition too little setting agent may
also not properly trap the moisture and may allow the
liquid to escape which can result in reduced viability of
the immunizing organisms as well as causing wetting of
the birds.
In order to determine the proper' amount of the
setting agent to utilize to maintain the oocysts in
suspension, carrageenan gel at different concentrations
was made up by dissolving carrageenan. powder into tap
water at 15 degrees C, blending thoroughly, adding a
calcium chloride setting catalyst and allowing it to set
for two to three m_Lnutes at room temperature. The
viscosity of the gel was measured at room temperature
using a viscometer. To measure the oocyst holding
ability of different concentrations of carrageenan, 10 ml
of each concentrat~_on of gel was added to a test tube and
a fixed number of oocysts was added to each tube and
mixed thoroughly. Samples from the very top of the gel
2o in each tube were taken every hour and the number of
oocysts was counted under a microscope. The following
table gives the results of this determination.
Table 1
Time o retention of oocysts
T~aT~SPC~ /=~ rcnt-cni-i nn 1
cum - 0 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Concentration
0 100 100 100 100 100
1 4 24 97 115 161
2 4 82 92 104 168
3 1 74 100 95 161
4 1 84 97 105 165
24 2 10 99 99 -
From the results presented in the table and other
tests it was deterrr~ined that a gel having a viscosity of
at least 23 cps is required to maintain the oocysts in
suspension. With carrageenan gel, this translates to
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about 0.6 percent carrageenan gel. The gel may contain
more carrageenan than 0.6 percent, however it has been
found that greater than about 1 percent gel does not
provide any added advantage in maintaining the oocysts in
suspension and may cause difficulties in delivery of the
flowable gel. For carrageenan, the preferred range of
gel is 0.8 to 1.0 percent with 1.0 percent being the most
preferred.
As set out above, for Eimeria oocysts which are
rather large and dense organisms, a gel having a
viscosity of at least 23 cps is required to maintain the
oocysts in suspens_~on. If the immunizing organisms in
the gel are smaller or lighter, then a lower viscosity
gel may be utilized to maintain the organisms in
suspension. The proper amount of gel to utilize to
maintain the suspension of organisms while also
entrapping the moisture within the gel matrix, may be
easily determined a_n accordance with the example set out
2 o above .
In order to determine whether poultry hatchlings in
a flat would take up the gel beadlets a delivery system
for use in associat=ion with a hatchery conveyor system
was developed. A f=first embodiment of such an apparatus
is illustrated in f=figures 1 and 2 generally indicated by
the numeral 10. The apparatus 10 has a receiver 12 for
receiving the hatchlings tray and to which the components
of the spray apparatus are attached. The receiver 12 has
3o a top 14 attached along two opposing edges to two
sidewalls 16 having a height to space the top 14 above
the hatchlings tray and being spaced apart a distance to
straddle the tray. Attached to the top 14 of the
receiver 12 is a spray apparatus to enable spraying o:E
the gel into the ha.tchlings tray. The spray apparatus has
a pump means to enable the soft flowable gel to be pumped
through tubing and dispensed into the hatchlings tray
through one or more spray nozzles. In the embodiment
illustrated in the figures the apparatus has four such
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nozzles to provide complete coverage of the hatchlings
tray. However, 1 i~o 4 nozzles are most acceptable. The
pump apparatus illustrated in Figure 1 is an air actuated
piston pump having a pump chamber with a one-way inlet
valve and a one-wa;r outlet valve. Th.e inlet valve is
connected to a gel reservoir through suitable tubing and
the outlet valve is connected to the spray nozzles
through suitable tubing. When the piston makes its out
stroke the flowable gel is sucked into the chamber
1o through the one-way inlet valve. Once the chamber is
full and it is desired to deliver the gel to the
hatchlings tray, the piston pump is actuated and the
piston travels on its in stroke pushing the gel from the
chamber through the one-way outlet valve and tubing and
spraying it into the hatchlings tray in the form of small
beadlets. The spray nozzle is selected to produce a
spray pattern of small beadlets of the vaccine. This may
be achieved by design of the nozzle to disrupt the flow
of the gel to form the small beadlets. The disruption
2o may be achieved by physical means such as the design of
the nozzle outlet or the disruption m.ay be achieved
through the use of air atomization of the gel spray.
This is accomplished by introducing air into the gel
spray as it exits t:he nozzle. It has been found that air
atomization provides uniform and easily reproduced spray
patterns for immunizing a plurality of hatchery trays.
In order to determine whether the hatchlings will
ingest the gel uniformly, 1.0 percent carrageenan gel
containing oocysts, a blue food coloring was utilized
with the above described apparatus. The apparatus was
configured to deliver 25 ml of gel to each of the pis~~on
pumps to give a total of 50 ml of gel for each hatchl:ings
tray containing 100 birds. Day-old Cockrell's were
divided into two groups, a treatment group and a posii~ive
control group. The positive control group had 11 birds,
from which one biro. was inoculated with one ml of gel,,
five birds were inoculated with 0.5 ml of gel which was
used for gel spray. The remaining five birds were
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inoculated with 0.5 ml water containing about 2 x 105 per
ml. The carrageenan gel at 1.0 percent containing
approximately 2.5 x 105 oocysts per m:1 of gel was made and
mixed with 6.7 percent blue dye. The treatment group of
92 birds was used -for gel spraying. Postmortem
examination of the digestive tract of 46 of the gel
treated birds was carried out at 15, 30, and 60 minutes
after spraying. The remaining birds were examined 5 and
6 days after spray_Lng and lesions were scored from 0 to 4
i0 with 0 being normal and 4 being the maximal lesions.
Positive evidence of vaccination was observed in two
ways-colored blue beaks, tongue and esophagi by the blue
dye in the gel and the appearance of lesions in duodenum
five days after vaccination and ceca 6 days after
vaccination. In t:ne postmortem examination of 46 of the
sprayed birds carried out at 15, 30 and 60 minutes after
gel spraying 45 of the 46 birds or 98 percent picked up
the gel as indicated by the blue tongue or blue roofs.
Among the birds positive with blue dye 10 of 16 birds had
blue upper esophagus within 30 minutes and 12 of 14 birds
had blue crops within 60 minutes.
Postmortem examination carried out after 5 and 6
days of gel spray v,~as done by examining the lower
digestive tract, and particularly the duodenal loop and
ceca and scoring the lesions observed. After five days
17 of 18 birds were positive with a average, lesions
score of 1.1 ~0.6 on the duodenal loop and on the ceca.
3o After 6 days 100 percent of the birds were positive w_~th
an average lesions score of 0.7 f0.3 on the duodenal loop
and 0.7 X0.4 on the ceca
It was observed that the gel sprayed on the chicl~>ens
feathers was picked up within about three minutes after
spraying and the gel on the floor of t=he tray was cleaned
up within 30 minutes. The postmortem examination of t:he
upper digestive tract of 46 birds show that an average of
98 percent of the birds ingest the gel within 60 minutes
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after spraying with 22 of 46 birds examined showed blue
esophagus or crop after 30 minutes of spraying indicated
the spray gel was effectively carried deeper into the
birds digestive tract. The postmortem examination of the
lower digestive tract of the 42 birds show that an
average of 98 percent of the birds were infected with
coccidia. Among the birds examined on day 5, 94 percent
were positive with an average lesions score was 1.1 t0.6
and after day 6, 100 percent were positive with an
so average lesions score of 0.7 ~0.3 on the duodenal loop
and 0.7 ~0.4 on the ceca.
The above spray test was repeated a number of times
to determine the uptake of the gel by the birds. The
results of these tests are shown the following table.
Table 2
No. of Blrds Sprayed No. of Positive % of Posit we
24 24 100
26 25 96
46 45 98
25 100
103 101 98
108 107 99
22 22 100
30 100
25 24 96
25 25 100
Average 98.7
From these tests an average of 98.7 percent of the
birds were positive for uptake of the gel indicating that
the spraying method of the present invention is suitable
for vaccination for immunization of poultry hatchlings in
the hatchlings tray.
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The second embodiment of an apparatus for delivery
of a soft flowable gel vaccine according to the present
invention is illustrated in Figure 3, generally indicated
by the numeral 50. The apparatus 50 has a receiver 52
for receiving the hatchling tray into which the
components of the spray apparatus are attached. The
receiver 52 has a top 54 attached along two opposing
edges to two sidewalls 56 having a height to space the
top 54 above the hatchlings tray and being spaced apart a
1o distances that straddle the tray. Attached to the top 54
of the receiver 52 are four air atomizing spray nozzles
which are connected to one another through suitable
tubing. The air atomizing spray nozzles are preferably
external mix nozzles where the air and gel are mixed
outside the nozzle. Such nozzles are available from
Spraying Systems Co. The tubing in turn is connected to
a outlet of a metered diaphragm pump and the inlet of the
diaphragm pump is connected to a container containing the
soft flowable gel. One such pump is that used for
2o chlorine dosing such as ProMinent gamma Solenoid dosing
pumps. The use of a diaphragm pump with chemical
resistant parts allows the apparatus to be washed by
pumping warm detergent solutions and to be sterilized by
pumping chlorine containing solutions through the
apparatus. This makes clean up of the apparatus very
simple. A suitable source of compressed air is connected
to the nozzle such that as the pump pumps the gel through
the tubing and out of the nozzle, the gel is mixed with
air to provide for the formation of the small beadlets.
Three trays of day-old Cockerels each containing 100
hatchlings were immunized using the apparatus of the
second embodiment. The carrageenan gel at 1.0 percent
containing approximately 2.5 x 105 oocysts per ml of gel
was made and mixed with 6.7 percent blue dye. The
apparatus was configured to deliver 25 ml of gel.
Postmortem examination of the digestive tract of 30 of
the gel treated birds from each tray was carried out at
15 and 30 minutes after spraying. 20 of the remaining
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birds were examined at 5 days for duodenal lesions and
fecal samples of the final 20 birds from each tray
collected 6 days after spraying for the presence of
oocysts in the feces. Positive evidence of vaccination
was observed one or more of three ways-colored blue
beaks, tongue and esophagi by the blue dye in the gel,
the appearance of lesions in duodenum five days after
vaccination and the presence of oocysts in the feces 6
days after vaccination. The feces was collected for 24
1o hours and any oocysts isolated by salt flotation.
In the postmortem examination of the sprayed birds
carried out at 15 and 30 minutes after gel spraying 90 of
90 birds had blue beak and 86 of 90 birds had blue tongue
i5 after 15 minutes. &4 of 90 birds or 71.10 had blue crops
within 30 minutes.
Postmortem examination carried out after 5 days of
gel spray was done by examining the lower digestive
2o tract, and particularly the duodenal loop and scoring the
lesions observed. After five days 42 of 58 birds or
72.40 had visible lesions on the duodenal loop. After 6
days 53 of 60 birds or 88.3% had feces with observable
oocysts.
The results of these tests are shown the following
table.
Table 3
N0. WITH POSITIVE C~OT~OR
BOX# BEAK TONGUE CROP DUODENAL OOCYSTS
LESION IN FECES
SCORE 5 6 DAYS PS
DAYS PS
1 30/30 29/30 22/20 12/19 18/20
2 30/30 28/30 21/30 15/19 17/20
3 30/30 29/30 21/30 15/20 18/20
TOTAL ~ 90/90 ~ 86/90 64/90 i 42/58 ~ 53/60
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100 95.6 71.1 72.4 88.3
Another way of providing the gel vaccine of the
present invention to the hatchlings would be by direct
application to the nostrils. A gel containing 1.0
percent carrageenan, 2x105 oocysts per ml and 6.5 percent
blue dye was used for the application. 0.2 ml of the gel
was placed on the nostrils of 35 Cockrell's. The
postmortem examination was performed on 23 of the birds
for the detection of color 30 minutes after the
introduction of the drops in the nostrils. All of the
birds had a blue-colour in one or more of the tongue,
roof of the beak, or crop indicating that the gel placed
on the nostrils is ingested. Ten nostril vaccinated
birds were compared witrl 10 vaccinated control in which
the birds were allowed to ingest the vaccine presented as
a self-supporting gel prepared in accordance with PCT
application WO 96/25,951. Five birds were maintained as
2o a non vaccinated control. Fecal samples from each of
these groups was examined six days after vaccination for
the presence of the oocysts in the feces. None of the
non vaccinated controls had oocysts in the feces while
all 10 of the vaccinated control birds were positive for
the presence of oocysts in the feces and 8 of the 10
nostril vaccinated birds also had positive feces.
In order to allow for efficient administration of
the nostril application, a debeaking machine has been
modified to provide a nozzle to dispense 0.2 ml of
flowable gel on the nostril as the bird is being the
debeaked. It is standard practice in hatcheries that as
the hatchlings emerge, they axe sorted for sex, the
debeaked and vaccinated for a number of diseases. As the
birds are being debeaked, the application of the flowable
gel containing the coccidia provides for an efficient
means of vaccinating the birds.
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The use of the flowable gel vaccine would also allow
for the preparation of multivalent vaccines containing
not only the coccidia but other organisms commonly
utilized for vaccination against respiratory diseases
such as I~Tew Castle virus and bronchitis.
The method and soft gel vaccine of the present
invention provides for an easy to use means of immunizing
1o a large number of hatchlings by spraying the vaccine on
the hatchlings in the tray. By incorporating the
apparatus into a conveyor system, this is easily
accomplished.
Although various preferred embodiments of the present
invention have been described herein in detail, it will
appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations
may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of
the invention or the scope of the appended claims.
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