Viral Diseases of Chicken in and around Shillong, Meghalaya

The poultry health care system in Meghalaya suffers due to difficult geographical terrains which lead to reduced accessibility, weaker linkages and a poor health delivery system. In rural areas, diagnosis of poultry diseases is mostly based on clinical and post-mortem examination. Often the etiology of outbreak of diseases, which cause huge loss to the poultry farmers, remains undiagnosed. The inadequate measures adopted by the stakeholders for the control of diseases in addition to inefficient management have rendered the poultry farming a risky business. Poor reporting system and lack of mass surveillance facilities are also among the major constraints for generating the data regarding exact disease status and the economic losses. However, no detailed studies have been done on poultry diseases in this area so far. So, the epidemiology, pathogenesis and pathology of the poultry diseases in this area are not fully known.