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Spread of Marek’s Disease

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Book cover Marek’s Disease

Part of the book series: Developments in Veterinary Virology ((DVVI,volume 1))

Abstract

Under natural conditions infection with Marek’s disease virus (MDV) occurs primarily in members of the genus Gallus (1), although it has been described rarely in other galliformes such as the turkey and quail (2,3 and see Chapter 2). Infection occurs in jungle fowl, both feral and those in zoological collections (1,4), but it is most important in domestic chickens where it is ubiquitous in poultry populations throughout the world. There is no evidence to suggest that the jungle fowl is a reservoir of infection of importance to commercial poultry. The source of infection for the domestic chicken is other infected domestic chickens. In the absence of vaccination Marek’s disease (MD) occurs in commercial poultry populations throughout the world (5) and mortality may reach 80% of a flock. However, it is a characteristic of the disease that its incidence varies greatly in infected flocks, and between houses and pens within a house on a single site (6). These variations can be greater than 10-fold.

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Authors
  1. P. M. Biggs
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Houghton Poultry Research Station, Houghton, Huntingdon, Cambs., PE17 2DA, UK

    L. N. Payne

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© 1985 Martinus Nijhoff Publishing, Boston

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Biggs, P.M. (1985). Spread of Marek’s Disease. In: Payne, L.N. (eds) Marek’s Disease. Developments in Veterinary Virology, vol 1. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2613-7_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2613-7_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9635-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2613-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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