Vet Med Int. 2026 Jul 22;2026:9933937. doi: 10.1155/vmi/9933937. eCollection 2026.
ABSTRACT
Newcastle disease (ND) is a notifiable and highly contagious disease causing a significant economic loss in village chicken production. So, a cross-sectional study was conducted in the East Gojjam zone of Ethiopia to determine the status of ND among unvaccinated village chickens. The study sites were selected randomly. However, the chicken owners included were households that had at least four chickens with no prior history of ND vaccination. A total of 314 serum and 76 pooled tracheal and cloacal swab samples were collected from apparently healthy birds. The hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were conducted for serological and virological tests, respectively. The data were analyzed using the SPSS version 20 software package. Descriptive statistics and generalized linear mixed models were used for data analysis. The overall seroprevalence rate at the individual chicken level was found to be 93% (292/314 chickens). At the household level, ND was identified in all sampled households, with a minimum of two seropositive chickens found in each household. However, these chickens tested negative for the ND virus by RT-PCR. The seroprevalence rates of the NDV at each study site were 95.0%, 96.0%, and 86.9% for Gozamin, Enemay, and Debre Elias woredas, respectively, with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) observed among the study sites through descriptive analysis. Chickens from households where ND had occurred showed a significant association with seropositivity (p = 0.023, COR = 2.72). Contact with other flocks was the primary risk factor identified, with chickens that had such contact showing significantly higher odds of ND seropositivity compared to those that did not (p < 0.001, AOR = 5.18). Furthermore, households with access to veterinary service demonstrated significantly higher odds of NDV seropositivity (p = 0.006, AOR = 5.07) in comparison to those without such access. This implies that professional services in the area are utilized reactively in response to disease occurrence rather than as a proactive preventive measure. The findings revealed that the ND virus antibodies in village chicken were very high, indicating that ND is the major disease in the area that can threaten village chicken production. Therefore, programmed immunization is vital in order to prevent the occurrence of the disease. Awareness creation among smallholder farmers on the prevention and control measures for ND is recommended. Additionally, further research focusing on the virus strain identification is required.
PMID:42488886 | PMC:PMC13389809 | DOI:10.1155/vmi/9933937
