Characterization of Newcastle disease virus isolates from caged birds in Bangladesh

Two isolates of Newcastle disease virus from two different caged birds, one from a parrot and another from a kakatoa were characterized during the period from July 2001 to October 2002. In HA tests both the isolates haemagglutinated chicken and guineapig erythrocytes but the parrot isolate was found refractory to bovine and equine erythrocytes and the kakatoa isolate to bovine erythrocytes. In elution tests, the parrot isolate was found to be a rapid eluter and the kakatoa isolate as slow eluter. Both the isolates were found to be heat-unstable in relation to haemagglutinating activity and embryo-infectivity. The mean death time (MDT) of the parrot and kakatoa isolates were 57.6 hours and 117.6 hours and the intracerebral pathogenicity indices (ICPl) were 1.58 and 0.45 respectively. So, the parrot isolate was found as the velogenic strain and the kakatoa isolate as the lentogenic strain of Newcastle disease virus. Key words: Caged bird; NDV; mean death time; ICPI; haemagglutination test. elution test doi: 10.3329/bjvm.v2i2.2541 Bangl. J. Vet. Med. (2004). 2 (2): 113-116