PRODUCTION OF FATAL BLACKHEAD IN TURKEYS BY FEEDING EMBRYONATED EGGS OF HETERAKIS PAPILLOSA
Authors: Graybill H. W. , Smith Theobald 
Published: June 2004

In four experiments, three with young incubator turkeys and one with young incubator chickens, in which the feces of old turkeys from an infectious flock, kept at room temperature up to 5, 8, and 10 days, were fed, no infection resulted.

In an experiment in which two of four young incubator turkeys used in one of the above experiments were fed embryonated eggs of Heterakis papillosa and feces of turkeys from an infectious flock both contracted blackhead. Two controls remained well. Later they were fed embryonated eggs of Heterakis papillosa and both contracted blackhead.

In another experiment three incubator turkeys received embryonated eggs plus turkey feces from an infectious flock. All contracted blackhead. Three received embryonated eggs alone; all contracted blackhead. Three received turkey feces only; none contracted blackhead. Three controls received nothing; one showed blackhead lesions at the autopsy.

In a final experiment three turkeys were fed cultures of feces from the ceca of diseased turkeys, three were fed cultures of feces of old turkeys from an infected flock, and three controls were fed nothing. None contracted blackhead. The cultures of feces were prepared precisely as were the earlier ones containing Heterakis eggs but without the latter.

From these experiments it becomes evident that blackhead may be produced in healthy incubator-raised turkeys, reared in the open in an environment where blackhead occurs, but out of direct contact with old turkeys and other poultry, by feeding cultures of embryonated eggs of Heterakis papillosa, prepared by cutting up the worms in isotonic salt solution and incubating the suspension at room temperature.

These very definite and clear-cut results outweigh any objections which may be raised against the use of turkeys which had been in earlier experiments and which came through such experiments without any signs of disease, or which came from control flocks in which spontaneous cases had occurred. The short time elapsing between feeding embryonated eggs and the first signs of disease made these experiments unusually impressive. It should be stated, furthermore, that from a precise individual record of all turkeys it was possible to select birds from control flocks in which the infection had either not appeared or was very low. All but two turkeys in flocks serving as sources of this material were killed at the close of the year. None at any time had shown symptoms of disease, and no scars or other abnormalities of ceca and liver were found. Furthermore, all other control birds and those in field experiments, with the exception of two reserved for breeding, were likewise killed. As a result of these autopsies, it was determined that of all birds in which symptoms of disease had not been recorded during life, none showed abnormalities or scars at autopsy. The protozoan factor in blackhead was probably disseminated when the first spontaneous cases occurred in the stock, unless it was present and made invasive by incubation in the cultures fed. This latter theory seems at present not acceptable because of the wholly negative outcome of Experiment 8.

The production of acute blackhead by feeding embryonated eggs to turkeys in whose ceca adults of Heterakis papillosa are already present seems incomprehensible at first thought. A tentative explanation to be offered is that the worms when invading the ceca in large numbers break down the resistance of the bird which is able to protect itself against a few. This may account for the very irregular occurrence of cases in contact with older recovered birds on infected grounds. The rôle of Heterakis as a preliminary agent may also account for the continuing high mortality in turkeys in which the disease has been operating for so many generations to eliminate the most susceptible. It now seems highly probable that the turkey has become relatively resistant to the invasion of the protozoan parasite acting alone and that such invasion may require other agencies. Whether Heterakis papillosa is the only, or at any rate, the chief accessory agent or whether there are others, living or inert, which when ingested by the turkey assist in preparing the way for the destructive invasion of the walls of the ceca and the liver by Amœba meleagridis is a question now open to solution by experimentation.

The relation of common poultry to outbreaks of blackhead may be accounted for, at least in part, by the fact that they are hosts of Heterakis papillosa. How frequently they also carry Amoeba meleagridis remains to be determined.

Since earlier communications have contained certain practical suggestions on the rearing of turkeys and the prevention of blackhead, it is not out of place here to point out that the additional information presented in this article simply emphasizes the suggestions already made. Turkeys should be raised in the incubator and brooder and kept away from older turkeys and poultry. The shelters should be moved from time to time to prevent a too concentrated infection of the soil with Heterakis ova. Inasmuch as the factors producing blackhead may be deposited by certain still undetermined birds on the wing, disease may be looked for at any time during the warm season. It is not, however, very readily transmitted, and in the experiments described elsewhere the mortality from spontaneous blackhead was low. The flock should be looked over as frequently as possible, and whenever a turkey begins to droop, it should be isolated and killed if the drooping continues over several days. If such turkeys are allowed to recover, they should not be returned to the young flock but kept with older, presumably infected birds. Such birds are entirely satisfactory as a source of eggs, since there is no evidence that the latter transmit the infection.