
Tracking Down Newcastle VirusBy Sharon
Durham October 19, 1999How can you distinguish a Newcastle
virus that would give a chicken a "cold" from one that could lead to
destruction of entire flocks and bans on U.S. poultry imports? To find out, scientists at USDA's Agricultural Research Service have devised
a dual strategy: genetic codebreaking and clinical tests. Native Newcastle
strains cause only mild symptoms. But the researchers and their
USDA colleagues face a continuous challenge
of distinguishing weak Newcastle strains from virulent, exotic, scary ones. At
ARS' Southeast Poultry Research
Laboratory in Athens, Ga., microbiologist Bruce Seal examines Newcastle
gene sequences and veterinarian Daniel King evaluates how the viruses affect
birds. About 12 million chickens and other poultry were destroyed to eradicate a
1971 Newcastle outbreak in California. The disease was transmitted from
infected imported parrots. USDA's Animal
and Plant Health Inspection Service established quarantine stations to stop
infected pet birds from entering the country. But that isn't enough, because viruses can fly over borders. The first known
die-off of wild water birds from Newcastle disease in the U.S. occurred in
1992. Hundreds of migrating cormorants died at a North Dakota lake. Soon,
26,000 turkeys were destroyed to halt the outbreak. In Athens, Seal compared
viral genes and confirmed that the cormorants were the source. When an anhinga--a native wild water bird--died from Newcastle disease in a
Florida theme park in 1993, an APHIS microbiologist sent a virus sample to
Athens for a more intensive look at its potential virulence. Seal discovered it
was genetically almost identical to the killer North Dakota strain. But King's
clinical studies showed it only moderately virulent. ARS and APHIS will continue keeping an eye on the anhinga strain and other
Newcastle isolates to provide an early warning system to the poultry industry.
A story about the research appears in October's Agricultural Research magazine
and online at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/oct99/front1099.htm Scientific contact: Daniel J. King and Bruce S. Seal, ARS Southeast
Poultry Research Laboratory, Athens, Ga., phone (706) 546-3434, fax (706)
546-3161, [email protected],
[email protected]. Story contacts Sharon A Durham Daniel J King Bruce S Seal U.S. Department of Agriculture | |