Source:   Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 5/6/11

USDA scientists have developed a new vaccine that not only reduces Newcastle disease in poultry but also reduces the spread of the virus, the agency’s Agricultural Research Service said in a news release.

Microbiologist Qingzhong Yu led a team of researchers that was able to generate a new vaccine by swapping a gene from the original vaccine with a similar gene of the wild-type Newcastle disease virus currently circulating in the environment.

Current vaccines for Newcastle disease are used widely in commercial poultry and protect against disease, but they do not stop the virus from spreading. A vaccine that reduces both the shedding of the virus and spreading of viruses among birds is “sorely” needed by the industry, Yu said.

Most U.S. vaccines are formulated with NDV isolated in the 1940s. New NDV strains have emerged that are genetically different, he noted.

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