Coccidiosis prevalence is slowly returning to 2021 levels
For the first time since 2021, there has been a reduction in coccidiosis levels in broilers, which has been identified by Elanco.
The Elanco Health Tracking System (HTSi) 2023 latest report identifies that broiler intestinal integrity scores have remained consistently stable, highlighting a reduction in coccidiosis levels throughout the year.
The recent report collated intestinal health data from January to October 2023, from 5,926 necropsied bird examinations, from 438 broiler houses on 269 UK farms.
In 2022, national intestinal integrity scores dipped for several reasons, including changes in coccidial programmes and inconsistent raw material quality. As a result, a rise in coccidiosis cases was seen, a major contributor to the intestinal integrity index.
However, intestinal integrity started to improve towards the end of 2022, and remained stable in 2023, with average values being similar to that of 2021.
Coccidia species prevalence
When looking at the trends for coccidia species, they follow a similar trend to intestinal integrity, with cases starting to return to pre-2022 levels.
Explaining the findings, James Bishop, Elanco’s monogastric technical consultant, says: “In 2023, 37.8% of birds were affected by E. acervulina, a decrease from 40.1% in 2022. This lower percentage is similar to that seen in 2021.
“Levels of E. acervulina remained relatively high throughout 2022 and this rolled over into early 2023. However, levels have gradually decreased to the lowest values since pre-spring 2022. This is likely due to producers returning to long term Narasin based programmes in late 2022, regaining some consistency and improving stability throughout 2023.”
Of the 2,241 birds showing E. acervulina lesions; 69.2% were mild (score one), 25.6% were moderate (score two) and 5.2% were severe (scores three and four).
However, the report demonstrates 10.5% of birds presented with gross E. maxima, while this is on a par with 2022 levels, it is a 50% increase from 2021.
“As the largest species of coccidia, E. maxima can cause the most harm to the intestinal tract without causing mortality, having a significant impact on farm performance and profits,” says Dr Bishop.
“E. maxima can be hard to manage in the winter months, and due to the wetter summer in 2023, producers have struggled to reduce levels back to where they were in 2021.
“The fluctuating levels seen over 2023 show how anticoccidial programme instability can lead to lasting changes which impact birds through future crops.”
The species most likely to cause mortality in the bird, clinical E. tenella, is not often seen within the average UK broiler house. The report reveals that in 2023, 5.3% of birds presented gross E. tenella lesions, a five-fold increase from 2021.
“The spring of 2023 saw a steady decrease in the levels of E. tenella since the spike in levels in Autumn 2022,” says Dr Bishop.
“However, in May 2023, levels started to rise again and remained higher through the summer than in 2021 but are lower than that of 2022, this effect is likely due to the challenging weather conditions that were experienced last summer, and a higher environmental challenge compared to the previous year.” he says.