Spondylitis is emerging in broilers

In World Poultry Vol. 23 No. 12, 2007, we described spondylitis caused by the bacterium Enterococcus cecorum as a newly emerging disease in broiler breeders in the US. Until recently the disease was only a problem in male broiler breeders, but now we are also seeing it in flocks of broiler chickens, with many birds in the flock described as having “leg problems”. By Dr. Tahseen Aziz, Rollins Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Raleigh, NC, US, and Dr. H. John Barnes, College of Veterinary