Systematic Veterinary Virology

ERADICATION

• Biosecurity is the best method to prevent the occurrence of infection. Farms and flocks should be well separated, hatcheries should be isolated from poultry farms, different species should be reared on different sites, and there should be an adequate fresh water supply, preferably one that does not draw on surface water.

On the farms the following points should be observed

• Regular vaccination and periodical antibody monitoring
• Houses, food stores and water tanks should be bird-proofed.
• Movements on and off the farm should be kept to a minimum.
• All equipment, especially vehicles, should be disinfected before access to the site is permitted.
• Movements between different farms for egg collection, carcass collection, food delivery and the like should be confined to a specified collection and delivery point away from the poultry flocks.
• Visits by personnel such as bleeding or vaccination teams, inseminators and veterinarians are the most likely method of introduction of ND and if such visits are unavoidable, regimens of clothing change, equipment disinfection and other basic hygiene controls must be enforced.