Newcastle disease in local hens – A case report

Traditional local chicken farming, as opposed to commercial poultry breeds, faces numerous disease-related challenges, with one of the prominent threats being the Newcastle disease virus. This case report describes 8-week-old local hens infected with the Newcastle disease virus detected through epidemiological aspect, pathological, and virology investigations. The morbidity of this farm was 65%, with 20% mortality and 30.7% case fatality rate. The anatomopathology and histopathology examination revealed pathological changes in various organs. Laboratory tests using the Haemmaglutination-Inhibition and Haemmaglutination assays confirmed the presence of the Newcastle disease virus. Based on clinical symptoms, anatomopathological findings, histopathological analysis, virus isolation, and identification, it is concluded that the affected hens were infected with viscerotropic velogenic Newcastle disease.