TY - JOUR T1 - Further evidence for the widespread co-circulation of lineages 4b and 7 velogenic Newcastle disease viruses in rural Nigeria. JF - Avian Pathol Y1 - 2012 A1 - Steven Van Borm A1 - Obishakin, Emmanuel A1 - Joannis, Tony A1 - Bénédicte Lambrecht A1 - Thierry van den Berg KW - Animals KW - Base Sequence KW - Chickens KW - Columbidae KW - Genes, Viral KW - Genotype KW - Humans KW - Molecular Sequence Data KW - Newcastle Disease KW - Newcastle disease virus KW - Nigeria KW - Phylogeny KW - Poultry Diseases KW - RNA, Viral KW - Sequence Analysis, DNA KW - virulence AB -

Newcastle disease (ND) is an endemic disease in rural poultry of Western Africa. It may cause severe economic losses in the poultry sector and, as such, is listed as a notifiable disease by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Recently, a new genetic lineage of ND viruses was discovered in Western Africa. We determined the complete fusion (F) gene coding sequence of 12 ND viruses isolated from pigeons and rural chickens in six Nigerian states in 2007 and 2008. Phylogenetic analysis of the complete F coding sequence confirmed the circulation of genetically diverse ND isolates in a large geographic area in Nigeria. Next to isolates belonging to lineage 4b, viruses of the recently discovered lineage 7 (some of which were previously reported to escape routine real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction detection) were isolated in six states during the two-year period. The documented genetic variants occurred over a large geographic area, indicating an endemic circulation of these viruses. Three different velogenic fusion gene cleavage site motifs were observed. These findings confirm the endemic circulation and diversification of ND isolates in rural poultry and pigeons in Nigeria and highlight the importance of surveillance in developing countries to monitor the validity of rapid molecular diagnostic tools and of vaccination regimes.

VL - 41 CP - 4 U1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22834552?dopt=Abstract M3 - 10.1080/03079457.2012.696311 ER -