فرقان صبار كاظم الاعرجي

Background and Aim: Infectious bronchitis (IB) has an influential economic impact on the poultry industry, causing huge losses each year due to the condemnation of infected chickens. Despite the use of many kinds of vaccines in Iraq, it is common to find IB problems in vaccinated chickens. Information about the strains that affect Iraqi chickens is very limited. Therefore, we aimed to detect the currently circulating strains of IB virus that cause frequent outbreaks in egg layers despite the use of vaccination against the virus. Materials and Methods: Isolate detection, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis were performed using a rapid IB virus antigen kit (32 tracheal swabs), flinders technology associates (FTA) card (32 tracheal swabs), and partial gene sequencing (16 positive FTA samples). Results: The isolated strain was different from other strains, especially the strain isolated in the North of Iraq (Sulemania Strain) and shares 98% homology with an Israeli strain (Israel variant 2, IS 1494). Conclusion: Although more studies are needed to detect IB virus strains circulating in Iraq, this work lays the foundation for making a good strategy to control the disease and selecting vaccines that should be used in farms.

For the first time in Iraq, we identified in March, 2018 the presence of a highly virulent avian influenza virus (AIV), H5N1 (Clade 2.3.2.1c), causing highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry farms, Iraq, . The identification of the virus was done using a rapid serological test, a real time-qPCR, and glycoprotein gene sequencing. Using sequencing and phylogenetic analyses, the clade 2.3.2.1c virus was recorded to be clustered, with high similarity to Asian and West African AIV, HPAI H5N1 from Ivory Coast identified in 2015. According to our knowledge, there was no previous detection of the clade 2.3.2.1c made in Iraq. Our results provide evidence that high risk of HPAI H5 outbreaks might be present in Iraq, and this needs to lead to high quality surveillance targeting of wild and domestic birds for early diagnosis of HPAI. The current work provides feasible and accurate approaches for understanding the evolution of HPAI H5 virus in different countries around the world.

Background and Aim: Infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) of chickens is a substantial issue to be studied in Iraq because this disease is one of the most highly contagious respiratory diseases in the world caused by a herpesvirus. However, in Iraq, the ILT virus (ILTV) infection and disease have yet not been confirmed in layers, so farm owners do not vaccinate these layers. The current study aimed to document the detection and characterization of ILTV in layer hens from Al-Diwaniyah city, for the first time in Iraq, using molecular techniques like polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. Materials and Methods: Four layer farms (15,000 unvaccinated layers/farm) in Al-Diwaniyah province, Iraq, suffered a severe ILT outbreak, was diagnosed and reported by clinical and PCR tests. This disease has been reported in Iraq, and more recently, it began to show outbreaks in Al-Diwaniyah city. The current work opted to investigate the ILTV using PCR and DNA sequencing techniques. The study targeted the p32 gene of ILTV using pooled tracheal swabs and organs including the trachea, lung, and kidneys which were collected from dead and clinically infected chickens. Results: The analyses revealed that four of six suspected field samples showed positive results by PCR. The DNA sequencing results showed the homology of the amplified fragments with the studied gene. Conclusion: This study confirmed the presence of ILTV in hens with respiratory signs during the outbreak.

Background and Aim: Infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) of chickens is a substantial issue to be studied in Iraq because this disease is one of the most highly contagious respiratory diseases in the world caused by a herpesvirus. However, in Iraq, the ILT virus (ILTV) infection and disease have yet not been confirmed in layers, so farm owners do not vaccinate these layers. The current study aimed to document the detection and characterization of ILTV in layer hens from Al-Diwaniyah city, for the first time in Iraq, using molecular techniques like polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. Materials and Methods: Four layer farms (15,000 unvaccinated layers/farm) in Al-Diwaniyah province, Iraq, suffered a severe ILT outbreak, was diagnosed and reported by clinical and PCR tests. This disease has been reported in Iraq, and more recently, it began to show outbreaks in Al-Diwaniyah city. The current work opted to investigate the ILTV using PCR and DNA sequencing techniques. The study targeted the p32 gene of ILTV using pooled tracheal swabs and organs including the trachea, lung, and kidneys which were collected from dead and clinically infected chickens. Results: The analyses revealed that four of six suspected field samples showed positive results by PCR. The DNA sequencing results showed the homology of the amplified fragments with the studied gene. Conclusion: This study confirmed the presence of ILTV in hens with respiratory signs during the outbreak.

Blue wing is a diseased condition of discoloured skin of wing caused mainly by Chicken anaemia virus and or reovirus. This review designed to illustrate the causative agent/s and molecular structure of the disease, epidemiology and common characters referring to pubmed as a references search tool. The disease is major cause of anaemia in chicken and the virus possess the ability to induce apoptosis in numerous chicken derived cells and tumor cell lines.

A cross-sectional study was conducted to identify the involvement of E. coli as secondary pathogen in cases of Swollen Head infection and to detect drug susceptibility pattern of these isolates. This study was carried out on 20 chickens that were purchased from Al-Safaa Company from an outbreak of a sudden increase in mortality in layers farm and experienced clinical signs included difficult breath, coughing, rales, swollen of infraorbital and supraorbital sinuses, and conjunctivitis, as well as severe depression. The main gross lesions demonstrated among the infected chicken including gaseous exudate in trachea, nasal passages and sinuses. There was yellowish gaseous exudate on the air sacs, ovaries and the peritoneum. The samples were inoculated on different bacteriological culture media, the isolates were identified by morphological, and biochemical tests, in which the result revealed that the major pathogens associated with swollen head syndrome in layers was E.coli. The majority of isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (94.4%), Ampicillin (100%), Erythromycin (100%), azithromycin (100%), trimethoprim (88.9%), and levofloxacin (94.4%). Nonetheless, however majority of APEC isolates were susceptible to nitrofurantoin (72.3%). Moreover, all E.coli strains recovered in the current study showed multidrug resistant to three or more different antibacterial classes. In conclusion, the present findings showed that MDR E. coli is prevalent SHS. The MDR E. coli is alarming signal because these bacteria can transfer their MDR trait to potential human and animal pathogens. Therefore, the introduction of surveillance programs to monitor antimicrobial resistance strains is strongly recommended to protect human and animal health.

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