Preventative Treatment of Viral Disease in Chickens
 

Antibiotics attack and kill bacteria, but are ineffective against viruses. Antivirals however disrupt the manufacturing stages of a virus and so prevent further production.

 

One approach is to prevent the neuraminidase from releasing the newly formed virion. Neuraminidase Inhibitors prevent the neuraminidase protein from facilitating virus release from infected cells, essentially pressing the pause button on the virus. If it can be paused then no further host cells get compromised, giving the immune system more time to do its job. Providing the infection is caught before the bird is too sick for the immune system to fight back then they’re quite capable of a full recovery very quickly.

 

The official line is that there is no cure against bird flu in poultry (a virus), but a recent report by The Waterfowl Sanctuary sheds new light on the subject. Oseltamivir (known as Tamiflu) Zanamivir and Peramivir are approved neuraminidase inhibitors commonly used in humans, so that effectively debunks the “no cure” stance. 

 

Neuraminidase inhibitors are not limited to antiviral drugs. There are many naturally occurring plant extracts that are proven to be very effective neuraminidase inhibitors.

 

Chinese Skullcap is a flavonoid from the east Asian flowering plant - Scutellaria Baicalensis and has been tested extensively across the world to determine its efficacy as an antiviral against numerous viruses. It has been proven to be an excellent treatment for hepatitis, influenza and Marek's disease that affects chickens, along with many other viruses – even cancer cells.

 

Please note: this is not a vaccine and cannot prevent infection, it is an antiviral, which disrupts the virus where an infection has already begun. Symptoms don’t present straight away and so if the virus can be stopped before symptoms become apparent then you are simply preventing the disease from getting to that stage. It should be noted that this is perfectly legal.

 

Recommended Dose

Poultry owners can give Baicalin as a preventative measure so all birds receive a dose whilst they appear perfectly healthy, owners of backyard poultry may consider adding 1g of Chinese Skullcap to 80ml of water and put this ratio mix into their birds on a weekly basis.

 

If you feed your birds a mash or a water absorbent feed you can mix this in your birds feed in the ratio above.

 

The incubation period for avian flu is just a few days, so it’s vital to have it administered before the symptoms become apparent.

 

If there is an outbreak near to you, it may be prudent to increase the preventative dose to 1g of Chinese Skullcap to 40ml of water as this has been effective on noticeably sick swans in the wild.

 

Research has shown that the virus can remain in the water for up to 150 days so regular cleaning of water drinkers is required.

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Source:

Avian Flu: How to treat the disease and protect the susceptible.

The Waterfowl Sanctuary