[Experimental reproduction of necrotic enteritis in the chicken. 1. Mono- and polyinfections with Clostridium perfringens and coccidia with reference to cage managemen]

Abstract

Experimental mono-infection and poly-infection, using vegetative germs of a CL. perfringens Type A strain 1663 and its toxin as well as E. acervulina, necatrix or mitis oocysts, were applied to 100 SPF chicken aged seven days. While clostridial or coccidial mono-infection did not cause any loss and only unspecific pathologic-anatomic changes, polyinfection was accompanied by diarrhoea and slower weight increase, with 55.4 per cent of the chicken having been lost three to nine days from the outbreak of the infection. The pathologic-anatomic findings recorded from the chicken with poly-infections included haemorrhagic, ulcerative, and necrotic intestinal inflammations, primarily in the small intestin. The results of these experimental infections indicated a possible correlation between CL. perfringens and coccidia in the pathogenesis of necrotic enteritis.