Diclofenac poisoning is widespread in declining vulture populations across the Indian subcontinent.

Recent declines in the populations of three species of vultures in the Indian subcontinent are among the most rapid ever recorded in any bird species. Evidence from a previous study of one of these species, Gyps bengalensis, in the Punjab province of Pakistan, strongly implicates mortality caused by ingestion of residues of the veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac as the major cause of the decline. We show that a high proportion of Gyps bengalensis and G.

Emergence of a nephropathogenic avian infectious bronchitis virus with a novel genotype in India.

We describe the emergence of a nephropathogenic avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) with a novel genotype in India. The Indian IBV isolate exhibited a relatively high degree of sequence divergence with reference strains. The highest homology was observed with strain 6/82 (68%) and the least homology with strain Mex/1765/99 (34.

Survey of ticks (Acarina: Ixodidae) for Crimean haemorrhagic fever virus activity in Jammu & Kashmir state, India.

A survey of ixodid ticks was carried on in 1977 to determine the crimean haemorrhagic fever (CHF) virus activity in Jammu & Kashmir state, India. In all, 412 immatures and 3258 adults belonging to 7 genera and 16 species of ticks were collected as ectoparasites of small and large mammals. These included one species each of the genera Boophilus, Dermacentor and Nosomma, 2 species of Rhipicephalus, 3 species of Ixodes and 4 species each of Haemaphysalis and Hyalomma.