E. Chick Anaemia Virus (CAV)

Research carried out in Northern Ireland (McIlroy et.al. 1988) showed that broiler flocks with over 50% of samples sero-positive for CAV at slaughter had significantly poorer profitability than those with none. This is attributed to horizontal (on-broiler-farm) spread of the infection. In this series we have tested 62 flocks (554 tests). Since there is a clear trend to increasing mean titres with broiler age at slaughter it seems likely that flocks above the regression line in Figure 3.22 are those most likely to have suffered an adverse effect from CAV.