Epidemiological surveillance of Newcastle disease virus in Egypt - a 6-year cohort study.

Newcastle disease (ND) is one of the most important poultry diseases worldwide and can lead to annual losses of up to 80% of backyard chickens in Africa. A retrospective cohort of 6 years was planned to screen the NDV in intensive chicken and turkey flocks. The existence of velogenic NDV strain was screened in different poultry flocks showing suspected signs of NDV using real-time RT-PCR targeting the F gene of the velogenic strain.

Widespread of H5N1 infections in apparently healthy backyard poultry.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 represents a threat to the poultry industry and human health worldwide. Inapparently infected birds are suspected to play an essential role in the spread of avian influenza virus. In the current study, a total of 25,646 samples (16,185 chicken, 4696 ducks, 1633 geese and 3132 turkeys) from apparently healthy birds were screened for the presence of positive samples for H5N1 during 2009-2014.