Newcastle Disease

Newcastle disease is a contagious bird disease affecting many domestic and wild avian species; it is transmissable to humans. First found in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom in 1926, then by Burnet in 1943 in Australia in connection with laboratory infection, where the virus was isolated from a ocular discharge of a patient to show the specific antibody titre in the patient's blood. Newcastle has a negative-sense, single-stranded genome which codes for a RNA-directed RNA polymerase, hemagglutinin-neuraminidase protein, fusion protein, matrix protein, phosphoprotein and nucleoprotein in the 5' to 3' direction. Its effects are most notable in domestic poultry due to their high susceptibility and the potential for severe impacts of an epizootic on the poultry industries. It is endemic to many countries.

Exposure of humans to infected birds (for example in poultry processing plants) can cause mild conjunctivitis and influenza-like symptoms, but the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) otherwise poses no hazard to human health. Interest in the use of NDV as an anticancer agent has arisen from the ability of NDV to selectively kill human tumour cells with limited toxicity to normal cells.

No treatment for NDV exists, but the use of prophylactic vaccines and sanitary measures reduces the likelihood of outbreaks.