Source: MEATINGPLACE, 8/4/16

 The genes of some chickens make them resistant to a strain of bird flu, a British study shows, raising the possibility that breeding poultry with natural immunity could help curb the spread of the disease.

Resistant birds were completely unable to initiate or sustain a chain of infection, the researchers found.

“The prospect of breeding birds with natural immunity to influenza virus would certainly widen the scope of existing control measures and perhaps limit the risk to the human population of the emergence of pandemic viruses,” said study author Colin Butter of the University of Lincoln.

Birds that were genetically resistant to the disease only shed the virus through their respiratory tract and for a limited period of time, the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, found. Birds that were susceptible to the disease also shed virus in feces and over a longer time. The researchers determined this was the only relevant means of spreading the virus.

“It is important for us to understand how different genetic lines of bird react to influenza viruses, so that we can begin to understand the spread of the disease,” Butter said.

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