Serum therapy of a paretic syndrome of ostriches
Weisman, Y.; Malkinson, M.; Ashash, E.; Nir, A.
Veterinary Record 133(7): 172
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0042-4900 PMID: 8305040 Document Number: 414431
The results of 2 field trials to investigate the value of serum therapy of the disease which is suspected to of of viral aetiology is reported. Serum from a pool derived from birds 7 to 10 days after the first signs of the disease was used. In the first trial 4 ostriches injected subcutaneously in the thigh at 3 and 14 days old with 0.5 ml and 1 ml of serum, respectively, showed no clinical symptoms of the disease up to 6.5 months of age while 3 of 4 control birds died from paresis at 25-28 days of age. In the second trial 4 batches of 20 two-day-old ostriches were each divided into 2 groups; the first group was injected at 2, 7, 14 and 21 days of age with 0.5, 1, 1 and 2 ml, respectively, of pooled serum from paretic birds, the second with pooled serum from 11-month-old clinically normal ostriches. 6 of the first group and 5 of the second were affected by paresis. The average age (+or-standard error) of onset of paresis in the treated group was significantly higher (68.86+or-6.09 days) compared with the control group (25.6+or-7.53 days). Thus the serum pool prepared from infected birds delayed the onset of the disease but did not protect against mortality.