The American Association of Avian Pathologists (AAAP) has released the eighth edition of its venerable Avian Diseases Manual, widely regarded in the poultry industry as the essential guide for diagnosing and managing diseases. Because the manual primarily targets students, the AAAP’s editorial committee felt new information was needed to better understand the changing scope of poultry medicine.
Editor and University of Montreal professor Martine Boulianne, DVM, said that while new pathogens of poultry continually emerge, the trend toward reducing the use of antimicrobials has opened the door for some old diseases to resurface.
“Furthermore, recent access to relatively cheap and rapid genome-sequencing techniques is changing the face of pathology,” she added.
Boulianne noted that sequencing of the complete genomes of several pathogens, as well as comparative genomic analyses of commensal and virulent strains, have helped identify several virulence-associated genes. That in turn has helped scientists develop a better understanding of pathogenesis and the need to develop new preventive tools.
