Earlier this month the Poultry Health Course brought together scientists with technical staff, veterinary surgeons and others wishing to learn more about infectious diseases in the context of poultry management. The course supports the necessary skills for excellent animal welfare in the poultry industry and helps to ensure future food security by reducing losses to infectious diseases.
This year, 11 delegates from across public and private sector and representing veterinarians and breeders learned from scientists and specialist veterinarians.
Alumni of the Poultry Health Course, which has been running at the Institute for over 20 years, gain knowledge to support their professional development, ensuring that those working in the poultry and related veterinary industries are able to apply the latest scientific understanding to their practice.
The extensive range of topics covered in lectures includes the structure and organisation of the poultry industry, health and other issues relating to the production of broilers, egg-laying flocks, turkeys, ducks and game birds; the major and emerging poultry diseases; pathogens of zoonotic importance; feed issues; control strategies, including the science behind them, with descriptions of the avian immune systems, and prospects for new vaccines.