Abstract :
Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) is a viral
infection, affecting the immune system of poultry, highly
contagious and characterized by destruction of the lymphoid
organs (bursal of fabricious). Worldwide in distribution,
occurring in all major poultry producing areas. Clinical
disease occurs mainly in Chicken although Turkey, Ducks,
Guinea fowls and Ostriches may be infected.
The study was carried out between January to June 2012
in Kwara State. Due to high prevalence of Gumboro disease
in Nigeria it has become necessary to attempt to quantify the
economic impact of Gumboro disease, so that it’s economic
losses could be appreciated and for quick decision to be
made on how to prevent and control the disease. Direct
economic losses are linked to specific mortality and depend
on the dose and virulence of the strain of IBD virus, age,
breed of poultry and the presence or absence of passive
immunity, while the indirect impact of Gumboro disease are
linked to virus – induced immune-suppression and/ or
potential interaction between Infectious bursal disease virus
and other viruses, bacteria and parasites, causing retarded
growth.
The study revealed that 462,200 exotic poultry birds were
kept in Kwara State, 53.12% layers, 40.28% broiler and
6.6% cockerel. About 51.15% poultry bird were kept on deep
litter system, 43.58% on battery cage system whereas 5.27%
used combined systems. It was observed that 74.7% used
imported Gumboro disease vaccine while 22.5% used local
vaccine produced by the National Veterinary Research
Institute, Vom whereas 2.8% did not border about
vaccination. About 88.3% of the farms sampled had
experienced Gumboro disease one time or the other.
The negative impact of Gumboro disease can be minimized
by good planning, effective vaccination and sound biosecurity
measures. Based on high economic losses from Gumboro
disease as revealed through this study, it would be important
to plan and execute appropriate preventive strategies against
the disease
