''Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale'', or ORT, is a

bacterium Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

that causes respiratory disease in

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, a ...

. It can cause disease in birds of all ages and is potentially fatal. ''O. rhinotracheale'' is found worldwide, and the bacterium may be spread between birds either horizontally or vertically. It is not a

zoonosis A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human. ...

Clinical Signs

Most commonly, respiratory signs are seen. These include nasal discharge, dyspnoea,

sneezing A sneeze (also known as sternutation) is a semi-autonomous, convulsive expulsion of air from the lungs through the nose and mouth, usually caused by foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa. A sneeze expels air forcibly from the mouth and ...

and

coughing A cough is a sudden expulsion of air through the large breathing passages that can help clear them of fluids, irritants, foreign particles and microbes. As a protective reflex, coughing can be repetitive with the cough reflex following three phas ...

. A drop in growth rates and abnormal egg production and joint problems may also be seen. There are reports of gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms in some cases. Clinical signs are generally worse in meat producing birds.

Diagnosis

The disease caused by ORT is characterized by

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

, pleuritis and

air sacculitis Airsacculitis, also known as air sacculitis, aerosacculitis, air sac disease, air sac infection, air sac syndrome and simply sac disease, is a common inflammatory condition of air sacs that occurs in birds and is caused by various microbial (mos ...

on postmortem examination. However diagnosis should be confirmed using laboratory tests such as bacterial culture,

PCR PCR or pcr may refer to: Science * Phosphocreatine, a phosphorylated creatine molecule * Principal component regression, a statistical technique Medicine * Polymerase chain reaction ** COVID-19 testing, often performed using the polymerase chain r ...

agar gel Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from ogonori (''Gracilaria'') and "tengusa" (''Gelidiaceae''). As found in nature, agar is ...

precipitation,

ELISA The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid-phase type of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect the presence ...

and serum agglutination.

Treatment & Control

Antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention of ...

treatment can be attempted, but is not always successful. The choice of antibiotic should be based on

culture and sensitivity Antibiotic sensitivity testing or antibiotic susceptibility testing is the measurement of the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics. It is used because bacteria may have resistance to some antibiotics. Sensitivity testing results can allow ...

results.

Vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

is reported to reduce the incidence of disease.

References

Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale: An Update Review about An Emerging Poultry Pathogen - Barbosa et.al., Vet.Sci.2020, 7, 3; doi:10.3390/vetsci7010003 - www.mdpi.com/journal/vetsci

External links

''Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale''
Wikivet
Type strain of ''Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
Poultry diseases Bacterial diseases Bacteria described in 1994 {{veterinary-med-stub