Diseases of Poultry, 12th Edition

The 12th edition of Diseases of Poultry is a ‘‘must have’’ reference for those involved in avian diagnostics, and it continues to be a basic foundation for those engaged in avian disease research. First published in 1943, Diseases of Poultry has been reissued every four to seven years. I started with the 8th edition and have never questioned my purchase of each subsequent edition. Over 65 years of publication, the editors, contributors, and chapters have been refined, reshuffled, added to, and evolved—some of them more than others. The current impressive list of 96 contributing authors includes dozens of familiar names in the wildlife disease arena. The bulk of its 1,323 pages—weighing in at close to five pounds on my (very inaccurate) bathroom scale—will keep one fit, if handled daily. Although I have relied on this reference for many years, in reviewing the new edition, I was surprised to find that the first two chapters contain a rather thorough compilation of information about the principals of disease diagnosis, prevention, epidemiology, and treatment of poultry—information that would be useful to individuals involved in the housing of wild birds used in research and also to researchers unfamiliar with the poultry industry. The first chapter covers invaluable, up-todate information on such topics as biosecurity, coping with sources of infection, necropsy techniques and sample collection, quarantine, housing, feeding, and data interpretation. An introduction to avian immunology, expanded with this edition into a separate chapter, covers host factors for disease resistance. Because the domestic chicken is second only to the mouse among animals studied for health research, this extensive compilation of existing knowledge on diseases impacting chickens around the world is especially useful—it may be the best single source of methodology and results available. In many chapters, the host section provides a brief list of wild bird species that share the diseases; however, the coverage of wild birds varies between chapters. Thus, this reference provides an excellent foundation for the understanding of a disease, but readers seeking extensive information about its application to wild birds will require supplemental references. The kind of detailed information available for each of the roughly 120-plus diseases is clearly illustrated by the list of sections and subheadings in the chapter on pox, as one example. The introduction gives a definition of the disease, synonyms, economic significance, and public health significance. A history of the disease is followed by information on etiology, morphology, chemical composition, viral replication, and susceptibility to chemical and physical agents. The strain classification includes subheadings of polypeptides and genomic differences in avian pox viruses, as well as nonessential and immunomodulatory genes. A section on laboratory host systems addressing birds, avian embryos, cell culture, cytopathic effects, and plaque formation is followed by pathology and epidemiology, incidence and distribution, natural and experimental hosts, transmission, incubation period and clinical signs, morbidity and mortality, and pathology (gross and microscopic and ultrastructural). Following the natural history of pox, the chapter provides a section on diagnosis, with subheadings of microscopy, isolation and identification of virus (bird inoculation, avian embryo inoculation, and cell culture), serology and protection tests—including immunodiffusion, passive hemagglutination, neutralization, florescent antibody, immunoperoxidase, ELISA, immunoblotting, molecular methods (restriction endonuclease analysis of avian pox virus DNA, Journal of Wildlife Diseases, 45(1), 2009, pp. 251–256 # Wildlife Disease Association 2009