In recent years the incidence of avian cellulitis (inflammatory process, IP) has risen dramatically so that today it follows septicaemia-toxaemia as the second leading cause of broiler carcass condemnation. Affected birds frequently appear as large, healthy and normally growing, but exhibit caseous mats called plaques under the skin at processing. Affected flocks increase costs to processors from direct product loss, downgrading and yield loss due to trimming and the slowing of processing lines. Although a number of bacterial species have been isolated from cellulitis lesions, Escherichia coli is most consistently recovered. This review examines past and present scientific and popular press literature on cellulitis and attempts to separate opinion from scientifically verified and tested fact.
