| Summary |
During the period from 1970 through 1985, total of 369 Newcastle diseases (ND) cases were diagnosed from the avian cases submitted to the Taiwan Provincial Research Institute for Animal Health in Taiwan. Most of the ND cases diagnosed were of chicken (93.22%, 344/369), and following by of pigeon (13 cases), Pheasant (4 cases), goose (3 cases), turkey (2 cases), quail (1 case), dumpy (1 case), and coot (1 case).
Among 344 of chicl,en, it was found that all type of chicken {breeder, broiler, layer, hybrid, native) and all age groups (1 to 40 week-old) were included. How-ever, most of the chicken flocks affected (81.65%) was under two months old.
ND viruses were isolated more frequently from lung, trachea, brain, intestine, and spleen. The incidence of gross lesion was found higher in the proventriculus, small intestine, trachea, heart, ceacal tonsil, lung, and gizzard. According to the clinical signs and gross lesions observed, it is believed that both velogenic viscerotropic Newcastle disease (VVND) and velogenic neurotropic Newcastle disease (VNND) were existed in Taiwan; however, VVND is moe prevalent.
An epidemic Newcastle disease of pigeon (avian paramyxovirus type 1 infec-tion) occurred in Taiwan during 1984 through 1985. The infective pigeon showed the clinical signs of diarrhea, convulsion, and paralysis. Gross lesions were limitted to enteritis, but histopathological examina-tion revealed the mononuclear cells in• filtration in cerebrum and brain, kidney and liver. Five strains of ND virus were isolated from pigeons during the epidemic.
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