A ProMED posting on April 30th confirmed an outbreak of Angara disease in approximately 7,000 broiler breeder chickens aged 30-days in Iran.
This condition is caused by an adenovirus (FAdV-4) but is exacerbated by intercurrent infection with other immunosuppressive infections including Marek’s disease and infectious anemia.
Angara disease appears as acute spiking mortality with losses attaining one percent per day. Affected birds show hydropericardium and hepatitis. First diagnosed in Pakistan and then extending to India in the 1980s, the condition later emerged in Latin America. Administration of specific vaccines, control of immunosuppressive viral infections, single-age placement programs and enhanced biosecurity have reduced the incidence of the disease which is now regarded as an economically insignificant condition in most broiler producing nations.
The question arises as to whether this is an isolated outbreak or is the industry in the Middle East to be confronted with a reemerging problem