Australian chicken virus unlikely to spread to New Zealand, MPI says

The New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has issued a comment on a journal article examining chicken vaccines.

According to the MPI, the Science journal article concludes that virus strains in two vaccines for infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) have combined, creating more virulent strains of the original viruses. In Australia, the two vaccines have been used in combination, creating these virulent strains, which have caused disease outbreaks in Australian poultry.

The ILT virus is an acute respiratory tract disease that can spread through chicken flocks, killing up to 20% of the birds. Flocks can be vaccinated against the new viruses.

New Zealand’s vaccine regime is different to Australia’s, the MPI said, so New Zealand poultry producers should not be concerned about recombination of ILT viruses from vaccines. While live poultry and raw chicken meat are not imported into New Zealand, hatching eggs are permitted. However, hatching eggs do not present a threat, the MPI said, as ILT is not transmissible in eggs.

The MPI said it will evaluate the report on ILT vaccines and consider how vaccines are registered, sold and used in New Zealand to avoid the issues that Australia faces with recombinant virus strains.