Ouch! A cut on your skin can hurt, especially if it gets infected! Now imagine if that infection was full of Escherichia coli and around your belly. Cellulitis in broiler chickens is the number one reason for broiler carcass condemnation in Canada (~0.8% condemnation rate), which is economically devastating, and a waste of chicken meat. To understand how cellulitis progresses, and to find a way to control it, we have developed an animal model to induce cellulitis in broiler chickens.
We will be studying the disease process along with the role of the immune system to develop a control strategy.