On So-Called Air-Sac Infection

Abstract

DURING the past 2 years much has been heard of a condition in chickens, primarily broilers, called “air-sac infection.” This was responsible for such heavy losses, especially in the Del-Mar-Va area, that in 1952 a conference of poultry pathologists was called in Washington, D. C. by the Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture to try to ascertain the cause or causes of this condition and to formulate methods of control (Simms, 1952).Increased concern and publicity combined with limited knowledge has led to confusion with respect to this disease. Among commercial firms, pathologists and poultrymen, the term “air-sac infection” or “air-sac disease” has been used synonymously with chronic respiratory disease.At the Washington meeting, the committee on identification of the etiology of so-called “air-sac infection” in poultry recommended that procedures such as embryo inoculation and bacteriological studies be made in “air-sac” cases to arrive at definite diagnoses… .