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Newcastle disease virus in West Africa: new virulent strains identified in non-commercial farms

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Abstract

Forty-four Newcastle disease virus (NDV) strains, obtained between 2002 and 2007 from different poultry species in Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and Cameroon, were phylogenetically analysed based on partial F sequences. Lineage 2 viruses were genetically identical or similar to the locally used LaSota vaccine strain and were mostly detected in commercial farms. Lineage 1, 3 and 4 strains were only sporadically found, and their origin was less clear. Twenty-one strains from backyard farms and live bird markets formed three new clusters within lineage 5, tentatively named 5f, 5g and 5h. All of these strains were predicted to be virulent based on their F protein cleavage site sequence. Minimal genetic distances between new and previously established sublineages ranged from 9.4 to 15.9%, and minimal distances between the new sublineages were 11.5 to 17.3%. Their high genetic diversity and their presence in three different Sub-Saharan countries suggest that these new sublineages represent the NDV variants indigenous to West Africa.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Aurélie Sausy, Emilie Charpentier and Sebastien De Landtsheer for technical help. The authors gratefully acknowledge support from University of Ibadan Senate research grant SRG/FVM/2006/10A, the cooperation of live-bird poultry market vendors in Oyo and Sokoto states, and of the numerous small subsistence farmers as well as the large commercial farms. We also acknowledge the contribution of Shaiibu Samuel for the sample collection in Sokoto. The authors wish to thank the diagnostic and epidemiological survey service from the LABOCEL in Niger. The authors also thank the Ministry of Cooperation of Luxembourg, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Research and the Centre de Recherche Public-Santé for their generous financial and moral support.

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Author notes

  1. Mariette F. Ducatez

    Present address: Department of Infectious Diseases, Flu Group, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 332 N Lauderdale, MS 330, Memphis, TN, 38105, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Public Health Laboratory, Institute of Immunology, 20A rue Auguste Lumière, 1950, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Chantal J. Snoeck, Mariette F. Ducatez, Jacques R. Kremer & Claude P. Muller

  2. Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Ademola A. Owoade

  3. Department of Public Health and Animal Production, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, Nigeria

    Olufemi O. Faleke

  4. Department of Veterinary Pathology and Microbiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sokoto, Nigeria

    Bello R. Alkali

  5. Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, 399 Avenue de la Liberté, BP 545, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

    Marc C. Tahita, Zekiba Tarnagda & Jean-Bosco Ouedraogo

  6. Direction des Laboratoires Vétérinaires, Niamey, Niger

    Issoufou Maikano

  7. District Hospital Bali, North West Provincial Delegation of Public Health, Bamenda, Cameroon

    Patrick Okwen Mbah

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  1. Chantal J. Snoeck
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claude P. Muller.

Additional information

Nucleotide sequence data reported are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under the accession numbers FM200796 to FM200839.

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Snoeck, C.J., Ducatez, M.F., Owoade, A.A. et al. Newcastle disease virus in West Africa: new virulent strains identified in non-commercial farms. Arch Virol 154, 47–54 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-008-0269-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-008-0269-5

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