Today we are tuning in to share another early detection story. As you know we’ve been working with some invaluable early partners, and one of those partners is an egg producer in the North East. We first connected with them to explore pathogen trends and the effectiveness of management strategies for ongoing health issues.
During routine microbiome monitoring, we saw something unexpected which led us down a rabbit hole. We saw a big shift in the microbiome in one house we were monitoring. This shift was seismic so we dug into what might be happening (and it's a lot!).
Bad weather led to increased piling and hen stress two weeks before the shift. Then the week before the shift, the first symptoms of crop mycosis were observed, and acidified copper sulfate was added to feed. Did I mention that this was all during the most crucial few weeks of a hens life - nest training??
Here is where early detection comes in. Crop mycosis is caused by species of Candida which are a type of fungi. Crop mycosis is new to us and is not something we are actively reporting on (yet!). However, the beauty of metagenomic sequencing means that we are capturing the genetic material from all organisms in the barn.
We were able to add Candida to our genomic library for comparison - and voila - there it was! Using noninvasive monitoring we detected increased Candida three weeks before symptoms of crop mycosis were observed. In the future we can flag these detections for early intervention.
This detection is a perfect example of why routine monitoring matters. By the time you see symptoms, the problem has already been brewing for weeks. Partnerships like this one are invaluable for exactly this reason: each unexpected finding helps us build a more comprehensive early warning system for the entire industry. We are excited to keep learning with you!
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