SEROLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF AVIAN PARAMYXOVIRUS-2 INFECTION IN BACKYARD AND
COMMERCIAL POULTRY BIRDS IN
SAUDI ARABIA
A. N. ALKHALAF
Department of Veterinary Medicine,
College
of Agriculture
and Veterinary Medicine, QassimUniversity,
P. O. Box
1482,
Buraydah, Qassim,
Saudi Arabia
Abstract
Serological survey was conducted to detect avian paramyxovirus serotype-2
(APMV-2) antibodies in commercial and backyard bird flocks, using Enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test.
Sera were collected from 212 commercial and 56 backyard birds.
Age of commercial birds ranged from one-day old to 62 weeks. In the backyard
birds, seroprevalence of APVM-2 was
71.42 and 78.57%,
whereas this seroprevalence was 52.35 and 60.84%
using the
HI test and
the
ELISA, respectively in commercial poultry birds.
No antibodies against APMV-2 were detected in 1-5 days old chicks with either
test. The HI test showed the highest positive samples (P<0.05) of APMV-2 in
19-35 days age group (58.33%), followed by age group 11-18 weeks (51.35%) and
25-62 weeks (47.05%). Similarly, ELISA also showed the highest positive samples
of APMV-2 (68.75%) in 19-35 days age group (P<0.05),followed by age group 11-18
weeks (62.16%) and 25-62 weeks (56.86%).
In conclusion, this study indicated the presence of antibodies to APMV-2 among
backyard and commercial poultry birds in
Saudi Arabia.
Key words:
Avian paramyxovirus, serological survey,
ELISA,
HI
test.