On the 20th and 21st of May 2020, the AVPA meeting was held virtually instead of on the Gold Coast due to COVID-19 restrictions. A new way to interact with fellow poultry scientists and vets. The conference was split over two days and covered topics such as novel vaccines/diagnostics, viral diseases, novel disease control products, bacterial infections and research reports (full details of the session and speakers are listed below). I particularly enjoyed the research reports that detailed a new cheap rapid test for sampling Campylobacter sp. and another project that explored dust sampling for vaccines and pathogens. A number of industry leaders gave updates on both the chicken meat and chicken egg industries. Of particular focus in the egg industry was the response plan and control strategies for Salmonella enteritidis. There were also a number of exciting presentations on spotty liver disease in laying hens. For chicken meat the focus was around transmission and control of the ILT.
Each session was run by a chair who introduced speakers and took questions just like they would if the meeting was face to face. I would like to congratulate the organisers of this meeting for an extremely well-prepared meeting. I thoroughly enjoyed the two days of presentations. I gave a presentation on the current and future activities of PHA and while the presentation went well, it was a bit weird to not have any feedback on my jokes, while talking to my computer screen! Although, this might have been a blessing in disguise. Everything went off without a hitch, the only thing missing was the catering and networking opportunities! While I enjoyed the experience, I did miss catching up with colleagues over catering and of course the warm weather that would have been had if the meeting had run on the Gold Coast as originally planned!
