Day 091 - 17 Feb 95 - Page 18
1 with everything that is in the report. If the person
2 writing had made that clinical observation, then I would
3 not question that. The fact is this condition has been
4 eradicated by genetic progress.
5
6 Q. The two at the bottom of the page, have there been any
7 incidents of that at Sun Valley within the last 10 years?
8 A. No. Scoliosis is a very rare condition, infectious
9 synovitis caused by myvoplsdms. Myvoplsdms was eradicated
10 from the industry about 20 years ago now, so it is not seen
11 as a problem in Sun Valley.
12
13 Q. What is the incidence of osteomalacia at Sun Valley?
14 A. Osteomalacia.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I recognise a lot of these conditions as
17 human conditions as well. Are they, essentially, the same?
18 A. Absolutely. Rickets is exactly the same in the human
19 being. It causes bow legs.
20
21 Q. Spondylolisthesis and scoliosis, for instance, are not at
22 all uncommon conditions in man, are they?
23 A. That is correct. A slipped disk is very common
24 indeed. Osteomalacia rickets is not normally seen now. It
25 is a vitamin and mineral deficiency and as long as the
26 ration is made correctly, then the disease does not occur,
27 so the only time that I have seen it in the last 10 years
28 was when the vitamin and mineral supplement was not put
29 into the feed correctly. So, that is really the only one
30 occasion that I have seen it in the last 10 years.
31
32 MS. STEEL: What about zinc deficiency and thiamine deficiency?
33 A. I have never seen those conditions.
34
35 Q. What about avian infectious encephalomyelitis?
36 A. That has been eliminated by vaccination.
37
38 Q. When was that?
39 A. 20 years ago. Marek's disease and Newcastle disease we
40 also have very effective vaccines for those now.
41
42 Q. How frequent are they?
43 A. Marek's disease, there was an upsurge in Marek's
44 disease about four years ago which affected breeding stock.
45 It was due to a new strain of virus in this country and we
46 had to import a special strain of vaccine to counteract it.
47
48 Q. That causes paralysis?
49 A. That is correct.
50
51 Q. Or can cause paralysis?
52 A. That is correct.
53
54 Q. What percentage of the birds at Sun Valley were affected by
55 that?
56 A. By Marek's disease, we had one or two breeding flocks
57 affected, I think it was actually two breeding flocks, and
58 we had a mortality in the order of about 4 per cent in each
59 one.
60
