Blackhead disease is an important disease in the commercial turkey and chicken industries. The disease is introduced to turkeys by transmission of the eggs of the cecal worm Heterakis gallinarum by contact with chickens or chicken litter. This worm acts as the intermediate host of the parasite Histomonas meleagridis, causative agent of blackhead disease. Because of the ban of efficacious drugs for prophylaxis and therapeutic purposes, blackhead disease has become an important re-emerging disease in both turkeys and chickens. No products or vaccines are currently available for the treatment or prevention of blackhead.
In 2019, the USPOULTRY research program deemed controlling blackhead disease an area of critical need in the poultry industry. Thus, the USPOULTRY Foundation and Association decided to tackle this issue head on as a board research initiative (BRI). The BRI operates separately and does not compete for funding or resources with the traditional USPOULTRY Comprehensive Research Program. The BRI releases two special requests for proposals on specific topics each year. These topics are chosen by the boards of directors of USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation. The request for proposals (RFP) released by the BRI are very focused and specify the research questions and areas of focus sought in the research proposals.