Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Todayโs path rounds are on ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฑ!
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ?
๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฑ is a type of ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ข๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ affecting turkeys, hence the name.
๐ ๐ฎ๐ง ๐๐๐๐ญ: This is *not* the same type of virus as human chickenpox, which is actually caused by a human-only herpesvirus and has nothing to do with chickens. So donโt worry, you canโt get chickenpox from chickens or turkeys with a poxvirus!
๐๐ก๐จ ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ?
Any turkey can get this!
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ?
As mentioned, turkeypox is a type of poxvirus. The turkey will acquire the virus through inhalation or damage to the skin, where the virus will enter the blood or lymphatic system. Poxviruses have a ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ (preference) for the skin, so once the virus is in circulation, it will find a nice piece of skin to live in and set up a house!
๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ?
Poxviruses tend to cause ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง of the skin cells, leading to nodules of skin tissue. In turkeys, this virus tends to affect the non-feathered skin on the head, including the eyelids. In severe cases, these turkeys may not be able to see because of nodules covering their eyes, which reduces their ability to do normal turkey things. This can have a significant impact on the productivity of the flock.
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฌ๐๐?
Typically this disease is diagnosed based on the nodular lesions affecting the non-feathered skin, but it can be confirmed by doing ๐๐๐ to identify the virus directly.
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐๐? ๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐?
Fortunately, there are very effective vaccines against turkeypox that are widely used! If there is an outbreak of the disease, mass vaccination can also help limit the spread of the virus between birds.
๐๐ก๐จ๐ญ๐จ๐ฌ
1-6) Examples of very lumpy turkeys 
๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ
Maxie, G. Jubb, Kennedy and Palmerโs Pathology of Domestic Animals, Volume 1. Sixth Edition.
Photos 1-6 ยฉ Noahโs Arkive contributors King, Davis and Sanders, Britt, Reece, Franca licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
