Diagnostic findings in the 1992 epornitic of neurotropic velogenic Newcastle disease in double-crested cormorants from the upper midwestern United States

• Published in: Avian diseases 1997-01, Vol.41 (1), p.171-180
• Main Authors: Meteyer, C.U. (U.S.G.S., Madison, WI.), Docherty, D.E, Glaser, L.C, Franson, J.C, Senne, D.A, Duncan, R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Wild; Birds; Brain - pathology; CEREBRO; Cestoda - isolation & purification; DIAGNOSTIC; DIAGNOSTICO; ENCEPHALE; ENFERMEDAD DE NEWCASTLE; ESTADOS DEL CENTRO NORTE (EUA); ETATS DU CENTRE NORD (EU); HISTOPATHOLOGIE; HISTOPATOLOGIA; Inflammation; Intestines; LAC; LAGOS; LESION; LESIONES; Lesions; Liver; Liver - microbiology; Liver - parasitology; Liver - pathology; MALADIE DE NEWCASTLE; MEDULA ESPINAL; Midwestern United States - epidemiology; MOELLE EPINIERE; MORTALIDAD; MORTALITE; Mortality; Nematoda - isolation & purification; Newcastle disease; Newcastle Disease - epidemiology; Newcastle Disease - pathology; Newcastle disease virus; Organ Specificity; Pancreas; PARTES DEL CUERPO; PARTIE DU CORPS; PELECANIFORMES; Phalacrocorax auritus; Purkinje Cells - pathology; Salmonella; Salmonella typhimurium - isolation & purification; SINTOMAS; Spinal cord; Spinal Cord - pathology; SYMPTOME; TEJIDOS ANIMALES; TISSU ANIMAL; Trematoda - isolation & purification; VIRUS DE LA ENFERMEDAD DE NEWCASTLE; VIRUS MALADIE DE NEWCASTLE; Viruses
• ISSN: 0005-2086; 1938-4351
• DOI: 10.2307/1592457

Neurotropic velogenic Newcastle disease (NVND) occurred in juvenile double-crested cormorants, Phalacrocorax auritus, simultaneously in nesting colonies in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska and in Lakes Michigan, Superior, Huron, and Ontario during the summer of 1992. Mortality as high as 80%-90% was estimated in some of the nesting colonies. Clinical signs observed in 4- to -6wk-old cormorants included torticollis, tremors, ataxia, curled toes, and paresis or weakness of legs, wings or both, which was sometimes unilateral. No significant mortality or unusual clinical signs were seen in adult cormorants. Necropsy of 88 cormorants yielded no consistent gross observations. Microscopic lesions in the brain and spinal cord were consistently present in all cormorants from which Newcastle disease virus (NDV) was isolated. Characteristic brain lesions provided rapid identification of new suspect sites of NVND. Lesions were also present in the heart, kidney, proventriculus, spleen, and pancreas but were less consistent or nonspecific. NDV was isolated at the National Wildlife Health Center from 27 of 93 cormorants tested. Virus was most frequently isolated from intestine or brain tissue of cormorants submitted within the first 4 wk of the epornitic. Sera collected from cormorants with neurologic signs were consistently positive for NDV antibody. The NDV isolate from cormorants was characterized as NVND virus at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories, Ames, Iowa. The NVND virus was also identified as the cause of neurologic disease in a North Dakota turkey flock during the summer of 1992. Although no virus was isolated from cormorants tested after the first month of submissions, brain and spinal cord lesions characteristic of NVND were observed in cormorants from affected sites for 2 mo, at which time nesting colonies dispersed and no more submissions were received