• Poultry Health Management

• Personnel
• Teaching
• Research
• Outreach
• Facilities

Dr. H. John Barnes

Education

• BS - Kansas State University, 1969 (Summa Cum Laude)
• DVM - Kansas State University, 1970
• PhD - Ahmadu Bello University (Nigeria), 1976

Areas of Research/Study

• Pathology of birds
• Disease Control
• Emerging Avian Diseases
• Ovarian Cancer in Poultry
• Interaction of Management and Disease
• Pathogenesis of Enteric and Respiratory Diseases
• Turkey Diseases
• Pathogenesis of Avian Diseases

Birds are highly specialized animals that have evolved flight as their primary means of survival. Weight and its distribution are important in maintaining the ability to fly. All of the cells, tissues, and systems of flying birds have evolved to provide maximum function with minimum weight. There is little or no reserve or backup defense mechanisms. When disease affects an individual or flock of birds, it often progresses differently than a similar disease would in mammals. Studying how birds respond to an injurious agent is the basis of avian pathology. The tissue and response differences between birds and other animals make avian pathology a distinct field of study within the broad area of veterinary pathology.

My work is primarily with poultry, although other birds, including free-living, captive, and companion birds, are occasionally studied. While disease control in poultry flocks has improved greatly over the past several decades, losses still amount to approximately 10% of all production. Much of the loss comes from production diseases that cannot be attributed to a specific disease organism. Rather, they result from poorly understood, complex interactions among a number of factors such as environment, genetics, nutrition, parasites, and infectious agents. Control of these diseases is based on management aimed at minimizing the impact of the various factors. In addition to known diseases and production diseases, new diseases due to emerging or re-emerging causes arise with astonishing regularity. Identifying new diseases quickly and accurately is essential to their control. Food-borne illnesses continue to be a societal concern as is the increasing recognition of antimicrobial resistance. Minimizing the organisms that cause food-borne illnesses and judiciously using antimicrobials for specific purposes are goals challenging the poultry industry and poultry veterinarian.

I use avian pathology as a basis for diagnosing known and unknown diseases and to study the mechanisms and causes of diseases in birds, especially those affecting the reproductive, intestinal, and respiratory tracts. Emphasis is on studying naturally occurring disease. Experimental studies are sometimes done to confirm observations arising from clinical findings or to reproduce a natural disease for examination at specific times post-exposure. A long-range goal is to collect material and information on avian pathology for future reference and educational purposes.

Currently, I am involved in research projects comparing ovarian cancer in chickens to that in women, bordetellosis in turkeys, transmissible viral proventriculitis in broiler chickens, causes of early lay mortality and male infertility in broiler breeders, and an ill-defined group of multifactorial intestinal diseases of turkeys known as poult enteritis complex (PEC). Within the latter group of diseases, considerable effort previously was directed toward studying a recently recognized, severe form of PEC known as Poult Enteritis Mortality Syndrome.

Appointments and Honors

• Professor, Department of Population Health & Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University; Full Member Graduate Faculty, 1982-present
• Associate Professor, Veterinary Medical Research Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University; Associate Member, Graduate Faculty, 1978-1982
• Assistant Professor, Veterinary Medical Research Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, 1975-1978
• Lecturer, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University (Nigeria), 1971-1975
• Instructor, Department of Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State Univ., 1970
• President, American Association of Avian Pathologists, 1991-1992
• Special Service Award, American Association of Avian Pathologists, 1994
• Phibro Animal Health Excellence Award, American Association of Avian Pathologists, 2005
• Editorial Board, Avian Diseases, 1979-2000
• Co-editor, Diseases of Poultry, Iowa State University Press, 8th, 9th, 10th ,and 11th Editions
• Outstanding Extension Service Award, North Carolina State University, 2005
• Academy of Outstanding Faculty Engaged in Extension, North Carolina State University, 2005
• Outstanding Teacher Award (Class of 1985), 1984
• Borden Award for highest GPA in graduating class, 1970
• Clinical Proficiency Award, 1970

Representative Publications

Scientific Papers

• Guy JS, Barnes HJ, Smith L, Owen R, Fuller FJ. Partial characterization of an adenovirus-like virus isolated from broiler chickens with transmissible viral proventriculitis. Avian Dis (accepted) 2005.
• Alfonso M, Adochiles L, Hendrickson VM, Carver DK, Rodriguez GC, Barnes HJ. Metastatic adenocarcinoma in the lungs of older laying hens. Avian Dis (accepted) 2005.
• Smith K, Reimers N, Barnes HJ, Lee BC, Siletzky R, Kathariou S. Campylobacter colonization of sibling turkey flocks reared under different management conditions. J Food Protect 67:1463-1468, 2004.
• Gazdzinski P, Barnes HJ. Venereal colibacillosis (acute vaginitis) in turkey breeder hens. Avian Dis 48:681-685, 2004.
• Clark S, De Gussem K, Barnes HJ. Flagellated protozoan infections in turkeys. World Poultry Turkeys Special 5:20-24, 2003.
• Pakpinyo S, Ley DH, Barnes HJ, Vaillancourt, J-P, Guy JS. Enhancement of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli pathogenicity in young turkeys by turkey coronavirus infection. Avian Dis 47:396-405, 2003.
• Matthews KG, Danova NA, Newman H, Barnes HJ, Phillips L. Ratite cancellous xenograft; effects on avian fracture healing. Vet Comp OrthopTraumatol 16:50-58, 2003.
• Barnes HJ. PEC: What is it and what is the economic significance. World Poultry Special 8:14-16, 2003.
• Pakpinyo S, Ley DH, Barnes HJ, Vaillancourt JP, Guy JS. Prevalence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli in naturally occurring cases of poult enteritis-mortality syndrome. Avian Dis 46:360-369, 2002.
• Carver DK, Vaillancourt J-P, Stringham M, Guy JS, Barnes HJ. Mortality patterns associated with poult enteritis mortality syndrome (PEMS) and coronaviral enteritis in turkey flocks raised in PEMS-affected regions. Avian Dis 45:985-991, 2001.
• Barnes HJ, Guy JS, Vaillancourt J-P. Poult enteritis complex. In: Diseases of poultry: world trade and public health implications. Rev Sci Tech Off Int Epiz 19:565-588, 2000.
• Breslin JJ, Smith LG, Barnes HJ, Guy JS. Comparison of virus isolation, immunohistochemistry and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction for detection of turkey coronavirus infection. Avian Dis 44:624-631, 2000.
• Schultz-Cherry S, Kapczynski DR, Simmons VM, Koci MD, Brown C, Barnes HJ. Identifying agent(s) associated with poult enteritis mortality syndrome: importance of the thymus. Avian Dis 44:256-265, 2000.
• Carver DK, Fetrow J, Gerig T, Correa MT, Krueger KK, Barnes HJ. Use of statistical modeling to assess risk for early poult mortality in commercial turkey flocks. Appl. Poultry Res. 9:303-318, 2000.
• Yu M, Dearth RN, Quereshi MA, Saif YM, Barnes HJ. Viral agents associated with poult enteritis and mortality syndrome: the role of a small round virus and a turkey coronavirus. Avian Dis. 44:297-304, 2000.
• Guy JS, Smith LG, Breslin JJ, Vaillancourt JP, Barnes HJ. High mortality and growth depression are experimentally produced in young turkeys by dual infection with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and turkey coronavirus. Avian Dis. 44:105-113, 2000.
• Heggen CL, Qureshi MA, Edens FW, Barnes HJ. Alterations in macrophage-produced cytokines and nitrite associated with poult enteritis and mortality syndrome. Avian Dis. 44:59-65, 2000.

Books

• Saif YM, Barnes HJ, Fadly AA, Glisson JR, McDougald LR, Swayne DE (eds). Diseases of Poultry, 11th ed, Iowa State Univ Press, Ames, IA, 1231 pgs, 2003.
• Fletcher OJ, Barnes HJ. Lymphoid organs and their anatomical distribution, in Handbook of Vertebrate Immunology, P-P Pastoret, H Bazin, A Govaerts, PJ Griebel (eds.), Academic Press, NY, 1998, pgs 73-81.
• Barnes HJ, Swayne DE. Avian spirochetosis, in Isolation & Identification of Avian Pathogens, 4th ed, DE Swayne, JR Glisson, MW Jackwood, JE Pearson, WM Reed (eds.), Am Assoc Avian Pathologists, Kennett Square, PA, 1998, pgs 40-46.