Sentinel broilers, PCR testing help isolate, identify evolving IBV populations in Arkansas

How do you look for new serotypes of a virus that might be circulating in an area? Sentinel birds are a good place to start, according to Abigail Reith, DVM, a technical services veterinarian for Zoetis.In a recent study in Arkansas, she used infectious bronchitis (IB) spires designed to look for serotypes of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), a coronavirus that is a highly infectious respiratory disease in chickens.“We knew that, potentially, we had a new serotype floating around, so we wanted to use the single birds to see if we could isolate [the virus] and identify it in the broiler breeder houses,” she told Poultry Health Today.