Protecting our growing duck industry

As Dr Turni, a researcher based at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) at the Universitry of Queensland), explains “Riemerellla anatipestifer has at least 21 variations called serovars. It is vital to know which serovar or serovars are causing the disease because the most common method of preventing further infection is through a vaccine derived from the disease-causing serovars, called an autogenous vaccine. Such vaccines provide protection only against the serovar or serovars in the vaccine. Up until now, the Australian industry has had no capacity to design vaccines appropriately, as our diagnostic laboratories cannot provide services such as serotyping or genotyping. This means there is no advice available for the producer on which serovars are involved in the outbreak and, therefore, no advice can be provided on which serovars to include in an autogenous vaccine.”