Studies on the Prevention of Leucocytozoon Infection of the Chicken. : II. The Preventive Effect of Furazolidone on Leucocytozoon Infection of the Chicken.

In recent years, leucocytozoon infection of the chicken has spread almost all over this country, and has given the serious damage to the poultry industry. We have been testing various drugs for the prevention of this disease, and in this study we have tested the preventive effect of furazolidone (nf-180) with leucocytozoon infection of the chicken. The procedure and the results obtained are as follows. Day old 200 chicks(♂100, ♀100) of White Leghorn were devided into 5 groups. Every group contains 20 males and 20 females. Group I was given the diet free from furazolidone as control, group 2 was given the diet containing 0.0005 % of furazolidone, group 3 the diet containing 0.001 % of furazolidone, group 4 the diet containing 0.005 % of furazolidone and group 5 the diet containing 0.02 % of furazolidone respectively. The smear samples of blood of all birds were made once every week for the detection of gametocyte of Leucocytozoon caulleryi. Body weights were measured at the same time. The infectivity rates of group 1(control), group 2, group 3, group 4 and group 5 were 64.1 %, 66.7 %, 70.2 %, 79.5 % and 48.6 % respectively. The infectivity rate of group 5 was slightly lower than that of the other groups, but from the practical point of view, it seems that furazolidone is ineffective for the prevention of leucocytozoon infection of the chicken at such concentrations. There were no significant differences between the weight gains of these groups.