Brachyspira Pilosicoli-Induced Avian Intestinal Spirochaetosis
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Brachyspira pilosicoli-induced avian intestinal spirochaetosis Article Published Version Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 Open Access Le Roy, C. I., Mappley, L. J., La Ragione, R. M., Woodward, M. J. and Claus, S. P. (2015) Brachyspira pilosicoli-induced avian intestinal spirochaetosis. Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease, 26. 28853. ISSN 1651-2235 doi: https://doi.org/10.3402/mehd.v26.28853 Available at http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/49323/ It is advisable to refer to the publisher’s version if you intend to cite from the work. See Guidance on citing . To link to this article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/mehd.v26.28853 Publisher: Co-Action Publishing All outputs in CentAUR are protected by Intellectual Property Rights law, including copyright law. Copyright and IPR is retained by the creators or other copyright holders. Terms and conditions for use of this material are defined in the End User Agreement . www.reading.ac.uk/centaur CentAUR Central Archive at the University of Reading Reading’s research outputs online æ REVIEW ARTICLE Brachyspira pilosicoli-induced avian intestinal spirochaetosis Caroline I. Le Roy1, Luke J. Mappley1, Roberto M. La Ragione2,3, Martin J. Woodward1 and Sandrine P. Claus1* 1Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK; 2Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Surrey, Guilford, UK; 3Department of Bacteriology, APHA, Weybridge, UK Avian intestinal spirochaetosis (AIS) is a common disease occurring in poultry that can be caused by Brachyspira pilosicoli, a Gram-negative bacterium of the order Spirochaetes. During AIS, this opportunistic pathogen colonises the lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract of poultry (principally, the ileum, caeca, and colon), which can cause symptoms such as diarrhoea, reduced growth rate, and reduced egg production and quality.Due to the large increase of bacterial resistance to antibiotic treatment, the European Union banned in 2006 the prophylactic use of antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock. Consequently, the numberof outbreaks of AIS has dramatically increased in the UK resulting in significant economic losses. This review summarises the current knowledge about AIS infection caused by B. pilosicoli and discusses various treatments and prevention strategies to control AIS. Keywords: Brachyspira pilosicoli; poultry; microbiology *Correspondence to: Sandrine P. Claus, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, The University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 226, Reading RG6 6AP, UK, Email: [email protected] Received: 14 June 2015; Revised: 17 November 2015; Accepted: 18 November 2015; Published: 15 December 2015 ontrolled animal husbandry is essential in order an emerging pathogen causing infections in a number to ensure safe and sustainable food production. of species, including poultry, which is the subject of this CAnimal husbandry is commonly practiced in review. While Brachyspira spp. are found in intensive developed and some developing countries (1) as reported husbandry, Brachyspira spp. infection are particularly by the USDA and Eurostat (2, 3). The constant optimisa- common in free-range and organic farms (6, 7) due to tion of breeding techniques and increased production the higher exposure of flocks to wild birds and the efficiencies has reduced significantly the price of meat and environment, which act as infection vectors/reservoirs (7). dairy products over the years, providing wider access IS is a generic name given to largely diarrhoeal disease to products derived from animals in countries where they caused by the colonisation of the lower GI tract by were not traditionally consumed (1). Therefore, there is Spirochaetes of the genus Brachyspira, and more specifi- a growing interest in improving breeding methods to cally for poultry by B. pilosicoli (4, 7), B. alvinipulli (8), and improve animal welfare, reduce production costs, and B. intermedia that are Gram-negative, spiral organisms ensure higher safety and better quality for consumers. with flexible outer-membrane and inter-membrane polar In this context, it is particularly relevant to reduce diseases flagella (8Á10 depending on species) possessing single of animal production, especially those that have zoonotic circular genome comprising 4Á5,000 genes and a guanineÁ potential. Gastrointestinal (GI) diseases are common in cytosine (GC) ratio of 27%. Pathogenic Brachyspira spp production animals, and their incidence has increased in are presented in Table 1 with their host range and large-scale farming industry due to intensive farming pathogenicity (9). Other Brachyspira spp. (not listed for practices, which facilitate rapid spread of infection be- brevity) are non-pathogenic but may be found in mixed tween animals (4). GI disorders in such facilities often infections. Also B. hampsonii is a newly described type result from the colonisation of the GI tract by pathogenic pathogen in several species including poultry, which is yet microorganisms, particularly at certain times in the to be defined and accepted as a new species. B. pilosicoli is production cycle such as weaning (5). Brachyspira an opportunistic pathogen generally associated with swine pilosicoli that induces intestinal spirochaetosis (IS) is and poultry but has also been reported to infect other Microbial Ecology in Health & Disease 2015. # 2015 Caroline I. Le Roy et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative 1 Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Citation: Microbial Ecology in Health & Disease 2015, 26: 28853 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/mehd.v26.28853 (page number not for citation purpose) Caroline I. Le Roy et al. Table 1. List of Brachyspira species, their host, and pathogenicity Species Host Pathogenicity Reference B. aalborgi Human, primates Mild to moderate (11) B. alvinipulli Chicken, goose, Red breasted, merganser, dog Mild to severe (12) B. hyodysenteriae Chicken, goose, mallard, common rhea, pig, rat, mouse Severe (13, 14) B. innocens Chicken, pig, dog, horse None (15, 16) B. intermedia Chicken, pig Mild to moderate (10) B. murdochii Chicken, pig, rat None (10) B. pilosicoli Chicken, pheasant, grey partridge, feral water birds, common rhea, pig, Mild to moderate (18) dog, horse, primates, human animals including dogs, horses, monkeys, turkeys, geese, and spread of various GI infections including those caused and humans (10Á13). by Brachyspira. Avian intestinal spirochaetosis (AIS), caused by the Symptoms of infections by B. pilosicoli can range from colonisation of the lower GI tract by bacteria of the asymptomatic to severe, leading to increased mortality genus Brachyspira in birds, generally occurs in breeder and rates in chickens (4, 27). Nevertheless, the most common egg-laying chickens but also increasingly in broilers. The mild/moderate infections are generally characterised by infection triggers severe diarrhoea accompanied by loss diarrhoea, faeces with altered colour and consistency, of weight, which has been associated with increased which are frequently foamy due to increased gas produc- morbidity among flocks with 5Á10% mortality if untreated tion (28), so-called cappuccino faeces. This may progress with concurrent loss of egg production in layers (14Á17). to faeces containing mucus and blood (27). Diagnosis is It often occurs by transmission of the spirochaetes via the generally confirmed via bacterial culture or PCR (29). faecalÁoral route and can be transferred between livestock AIS infection results in a slower growth rate (28Á30) buildings by farmers (4, 18, 19). Increasing number of and can also be associated with a delay of up to 7 weeks in recent publications have reported the presence of the onset of lay accompanied by a decrease in egg quality Brachyspira species in farms all over the world (20). This (28Á31). Eggs produced by infected hens are usually small, observation could result from several parameters such as lighter in weight (i.e. 2Á6 g less per egg) (28), and are less the 2006 European Union ban on the prophylactic use of numerous. Poor-quality shells are prone to cracks and antibiotics (4, 21), the modification of animal housing, often contaminated by faeces (32). Yolks are generally less and finally the development of improved detection meth- coloured with a decrease of 1.5Á3 points on the Roche yolk ods for this specific genus (22, 23). Thus, the impact of this colour fan (28, 33). Furthermore, it has been suggested disease on animal welfare and production is of high that infection may have long-term consequences on the concern to the poultry industry enhancing needs for novel second generation of chickens hatched from eggs laid intervention strategies to reduce the spread of AIS. by infected hens (28). Indeed, it has been shown that Here, we review the current knowledge on AIS caused chicks hatched from eggs laid from infected female parents by B. pilosicoli and discuss the therapeutic and prophylac- presented similar symptoms (i.e. decreased weight gain, tic strategies currently investigated (including antibiotics delayed lay onset, wetter and paler faeces) despite the and probiotics). Vaccine development to protect from absence of contamination (28). These results raise new swine dysentery (SD), a disease caused by Brachyspira hypotheses regarding potential