Serological study of Newcastle disease in local chickens in the federal capital territory, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Newcastle Disease (ND) has been recognized for a long time as one of the major production and health constraints to rural poultry. There have been increasing reports by private veterinarians of ND outbreaks in commercial farms in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria but the epidemiological status of the disease in local chickens is unknown and outbreaks are usually not reported. A serological survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of antibodies to Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in local chickens in four area councils of the FCT. An overall prevalence of 57% was obtained from the 400 samples collected from apparently healthy birds and tested using haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test. This study shows that NDV is circulating in the study area and may pose a serious threat to the commercial poultry industry in the study area; therefore, local chicken in the study area should be vaccinated against ND.