Molecular Detection of Newcastle Disease Virus from Field Outbreaks in Assam, India

Abstract

The present study was carried out to detect the circulating Newcastle disease virus (NDV) from various field outbreaks in Assam during 2018-2021. Nine hundred ninety-two clinical and post mortem samples were collected from the backyard and commercial poultry and subjected to molecular detection by Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). NDV could be detected in 445 (n=757, 58.78%) tissue samples and 53 (n=235, 22.55%) cloacal swabs collected from suspected poultry cases by RT-PCR. The findings of our study suggests that the sample of choice for detection of NDV from tissue samples was trachea (n=85, 92.94%), followed by spleen (n=96, 90.62%), lung (n=92, 86.95%), caecal tonsils (n=96, 77.08%), proventriculus (n=74, 60.81%), brain (n=92, 48.91%), intestines (n=73, 31.50%), kidney (n=52, 23.07%), and cloacal swab (n=235, 22.55%) by RT-PCR. Hence, the collection of specific tissue samples from field outbreaks for the detection of NDV is of paramount importance. In addition, RT-PCR can be considered a highly sensitive detection method for rapid and confirmative diagnosis of Newcastle disease virus.