UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Aug. 3 -- Pennsylvania State University issued the following news release:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A highly contagious herpes virus causes Marek's disease, a deadly illness that mainly infects chickens. While it does not make people sick, the virus causes tumors and paralysis in chickens and, if unchecked, can spread rapidly through entire flocks.
Beginning in the 1970s, widespread vaccination for the virus greatly reduced its impact on the poultry industry, but over the years, some strains of the virus have increased in virulence, causing more severe disease and evolving ways to break through and evade vaccine protection. A massive new study by researchers at Penn State and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), ...