The worrying Newcastle disease is endemic in Egypt with outbreaks occurring from one time to
another causing dramatic economic losses in poultry flocks. The current study was a trial to isolate
and identify NDV from poultry flocks in Egypt during 2015 and 2016. The NDV was isolated in the
allantois cavity of specific pathogen free embryonated chicken eggs (SPF-ECE). The
hemagglutination positive isolates were identified as NDV by Hemagglutination inhibition test (HI)
and genetically by Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Estimating the
virulence of the isolated NDV by partial F gene sequencing and intra-cerebral pathogenicity index
(ICPI)calculation that was found to be (1.51). Titer of the propagated NDV isolate was 10 log2HA
and by ECE inoculation was 109.7 EID50/ml. Our results indicated that the new isolate is virulent and
genetically related to genotype VIId NDV which emphasize the importance of NDV surveillance for
improving strategies for disease control. |