Key points in the presentation of the infectious bursal disease

Abstract

The infectious bursal disease or Gumboro disease is an immunosuppressive pathology of birds, which has great importance in the poultry industry due to large economic losses that it produces not only for its direct effect, but because of the susceptibility to secondary infections, interference with commercial vaccines, reducing the effective use of them. The disease is produced by the infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), which is an RNA genome birnavirus, with high capacity for mutation, so the agent is continually evolving. The pathology has three types of clinical presentation: a subclinical form, a mild or moderate clinical form and a severe clinical form. However, the type of manifestation is determined mainly by three factors: the age of birds at the time of infection, the type of strain or acting or genetic variability of it, and the immunity degree. In this article, we discuss each of these factors and their importance in the presentation of the disease. These elements are vital in order to establish effective prevention and control programs.