Detection and Isolation of Exotic Newcastle Disease Virus from Field-Collected Flies

Chakrabarti, Seemanti; King, Daniel J.; Afonso, Claudio; Swayne, David; Cardona, Carol J.; Kuney, Douglas R.; Gerry, Alec C.

Dispersal of infectious virus by ßies moving from premises with infected poultry to nearby premises with uninfected poultry is an important biosecurity concern for END and other avian diseases. Greenberg (1973) reported that house ßies were capable of ßights ranging from 2.3 to 11.8 km within 24 h. Although ßy involvement in virus movement between commercial poultry facilities is probably minor relative to other means of virus movement (e.g., on personnel, shared equipment, or manure hauling vehicles), ßy involvement in virus movement among poultry houses at a single commercial facility or among backyard poultry may be signiÞcant given the short distances ßies would need to move between infected and uninfected poultry. Backyard poultry are geographically clumped in southern California with small numbers of poultry at many adjacent homes and only a few meters often separating poultry at one home from the next. During the 2002Ð2003 END outbreak, homes with ENDVinfected poultry were often very close to each other, forming a cluster that was distinct within the somewhat larger geographic clumping of backyard poultry (C.J.C., unpublished data). In addition to ßy dispersal, movement of birds or personnel between these clustered homes also may have occurred.