Blood biochemistry responses of ducks infected with a velogenic Newcastle disease virus

This study investigated the blood biochemistry responses of Pekin ducks (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) experimentally infected with a velogenic Newcastle disease virus (NDV), KUDU 113 strain. One hundred ducklings were used for the study. The ducks were obtained at a week old and randomly divided into three groups. One group was vaccinated against NDV with La Sota vaccine at 3 weeks of age. The vaccinated and unvaccinated groups of 30 ducks each were subsequently challenged with the velogenic NDV after 6 weeks of brooding, while the control group of 40 ducks was not vaccinated and not challenged. Blood samples were randomly collected from five birds in each group, allowed for about 30 min to clot, centrifuged, and serum harvested. Blood biochemistry determinations were carried out at 3-day intervals from days 0 to 15 and day 21 post inoculation (PI). The results showed a significant increase in albumin on day 6 PI and total protein and globulin on day 9 PI and a significant increase in uric acid levels in the infected groups when compared with the unvaccinated uninfected controls from days 3 to 12 PI. The significant increase in uric acid level in both the vaccinated infected and unvaccinated infected groups in the absence of any overt clinical sign is noteworthy as uric acid determination can be a useful screening tool for detection of the velogenic NDV in apparently healthy ducks before they constitute a risk to in-contact poultry or spread to the environment.