Authors : A. A. Sana , A. I. Khalafalla , A.S. Ali and S.M. Elhassan
Abstract: The present study described the epidemiology of Newcastle disease (ND) in village chickens in Sudan. The study was carried out in the framework of the project; Improving Family Poultry Production in Africa. Five and three villages in Khartoum (zone 1) and Gedarif (zone2) provinces respectively were selected for the study. Farmers interview, virus isolation and hemagglutination (HA) and hemagglutination inhibition (HI) tests, to identify the isolated viruses, were employed. The biological characteristics of each virus isolate were also determined. Two out of 20 households (10%) in zone 1 reported occurrence of ND during the study year compared to eleven out of 12 households (91.5%) in zone 2. The disease caused a mean mortality rate of 66% and 69% in zone 1 and 2 respectively. All age groups were found affected and the mortality rate was 70% in chicks, 98% in growers and 62% in adults. Two isolates of NDV were obtained in embryonated eggs following their confirmation by HA and HI using a reference NDV serum. The isolates were designated as GD.S.1 and GD. Gh.1. The isolates showed similarity in that they kill embryos rapidly in mean death time test, produced visceral lesions in 8-week-old chicks and had a high Intracerebral pathogenicity index (ICPI). Accordingly, the isolated viruses were grouped as velogenic viscerotropic NDV (VVNDV) pathotype.
A. A. Sana , A. I. Khalafalla , A.S. Ali and S.M. Elhassan , 2004. Newcastle Disease in Village Chickens in Sudan: Survey of Disease Incidence and Isolation of the Causative Virus . Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 3: 32-35.