Ceramic powder made from chicken feces: anti-viral effects against avian influenza viruses.
Ceramic powder prepared by sintering of chicken feces, when mixed with avian influenza viruses or an avian adenovirus, inactivated these organisms to below detection levels. When the ceramic powder was mixed with double-distilled water, the pH of the water rose to 10 but the aqueous phase did not show any antivirus activity. After 10 washings with water or five washings with 1M Tris-HCl (pH 8.0), the ceramic powder still retained antivirus activity. Antivirus activity was not affected by the presence of organic material (33% fetal calf serum). When chicks were fed food containing 5% ceramic powder, there was no difference in body weight between normal feeding and the ceramic-mixture feeding. The mode of action of the ceramic powder remains unknown, but it possibly works by adsorbing the virus. These results show that the ceramic powder has antiviral activities and is a potentially useful tool against avian influenza on poultry farms.
Takehara
Kazuaki
K
Laboratory of Zoonoses, School of Veterinary Medicine, Kitasato University, 35-1, Higashi 23, Towada-shi, Aomori 034-8628, Japan. takehara@vmas.kitasato-u.ac.jp
Chinen
Omoto
O
Jahangir
Alam
A
Miyoshi
Yuki
Y
Ueno
Yuichi
Y
Ueda
Shuhei
S
Takada
Yukako
Y
Ruenphet
Sakchai
S
Mutoh
Ken-ichiro
K
Okamura
Masashi
M
Nakamura
Masayuki
M
D000818:Animals; D000259:Aviadenovirus / Q000502:physiology; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry*; D002645:Chickens; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D017745:Incineration; D009980:Influenza A virus / Q000502:physiology; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D038301:Virus Inactivation