Immune Status Against Newcastle Disease Virus in Backyard Poultry of Punjab Province, Pakistan

Newcastle Disease (ND) is one of the most important health problem of commercial and backyard poultry. It is producing significant economic losses due to fatalities globally. The objective of the study was to carried out serum base investigation regarding the Newcastle disease Virus (NDV) antibody occurrence in different seasons of a year. The data were documented has current immune status of unvaccinated backyard poultry. A total of 1468 sera samples were collected from 32 districts of Punjab, Pakistan. Using Haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test, the serum Ab titer was measured and maximum seroprevalence (92%) was discovered in the Sargodha district, whereas Mianwali showed lowest seroprevalence (15.25%). Overall seropositivity (58.78%) was observed between 4log2 and 9log2 antibody titer and average geometric mean titer (GMT) was 16.59. Furthermore, the presence of serum base antibodies of NDV was found higher in summer season (64.50% with 21.38 GMT) but decreased in winter season (50% with 15.13 GMT). In the absence of the vaccine, the results provide a clear evidence of exposure to NDV to backyard poultry. Hence, systemic sero-surveillance is needed to counter the ever-increasing risk of NDV in backyard poultry