Unique Variants of Avian Coronaviruses from Indigenous Chickens in Kenya.

The avian gamma-coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (AvCoV, IBV; family) causes upper respiratory disease associated with severe economic losses in the poultry industry worldwide. Here, we report for the first time in Kenya and the Eastern African region two novel AvCoVs, designated IBV/ck/KE/1920/A374/2017 (A374/17) and AvCoV/ck/KE/1922/A376/2017 (A376/17), inadvertently discovered using random nontargeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) of cloacal swabs collected from indigenous chickens. Despite having genome organization (5'UTR-[Rep1a/1ab-S-3a-3b-E-M-4b-4c-5a-5b-N-6b]-3'UTR), canonical conservation of essential genes and size (~27.

Development and Validation of Rapid Colorimetric Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification for Detection of Rift Valley Fever Virus.

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a high-priority zoonotic pathogen with the ability to cause massive loss during its outbreak within a very short period of time. Lack of a highly sensitive, instant reading diagnostic method for RVFV, which is more suitable for on-site testing, is a big gap that needs to be addressed. The aim of this study was to develop a novel one-step reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) method for the rapid detection of RVFV.

Surveillance and Genetic Characterization of Virulent Newcastle Disease Virus Subgenotype V.3 in Indigenous Chickens from Backyard Poultry Farms and Live Bird Markets in Kenya.

Kenyan poultry consists of ~80% free-range indigenous chickens kept in small flocks (~30 birds) on backyard poultry farms (BPFs) and they are traded via live bird markets (LBMs). Newcastle disease virus (NDV) was detected in samples collected from chickens, wild farm birds, and other domestic poultry species during a 2017-2018 survey conducted at 66 BPFs and 21 LBMs in nine Kenyan counties. NDV nucleic acids were detected by rRT-PCR L-test in 39.

A retrospective study of Newcastle disease in Kenya.

Newcastle disease (ND) is a major constraint to Kenya's poultry production, which is comprised of approximately 80% indigenous chickens (ICs; caged and free-range system) and 20% exotic chickens (intensive system). This study analyzed cases reported as suspected ND in Kenya between 2005 and 2015. Of the suspected 332 ND reported cases from the three production systems in 27 locations within six Kenyan Agro-Ecological Zones (AEZs), 140 diagnosed as infected with avian orthoavulavirus 1 (AOaV-1; formerly Newcastle disease virus) were present in every year in all AEZs.