Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: December 15, 2010
Publication Date: N/A
Technical Abstract: Newcastle disease viruses (NDV) are endemic in many countries around the world and have caused outbreaks in most countries since it was identified in 1926. Many countries vaccinate poultry to prevent economic losses from sickness and death. The majority of vaccines administered are formulated from NDV that circulated in the 1940s. There is evidence that using NDV more recently isolated that are more similar to the virulent NDV that cause disease can help decrease the amount of virulent NDV in the environment. In addition, since 1926 nine genotypes of class I and ten of class II have been identified, including new genotypes that are evolving in different parts of the world over the same time period. Molecular diagnostics assays that use defined sequences need to be updated as sequences change. Bioinformatics programs have been employed to evaluate the evolutionary forces affecting the NDV genomes and the likelihood of genomes recombining. While the highest rate of change is found in the fusion protein of the NDV genome, the cleavage site of this protein is highly conserved, and evidence of recombination was found rarely. While ND research has been ongoing since its discovery, there is more to be done to improve the control of this disease.