We are now more than half way through Avian Pathology's 40th Anniversary year and in this fourth issue of volume 41 we publish the fifth of our special celebratory reviews. This one covers Newcastle disease (ND), a virus disease of major world-wide economic importance, which was also of great significance when the journal was first published 40 years ago. Thus, one of the only five Original Articles published in Avian Pathology volume 1 was on ND virus by Kaleta et al. (Citation1972), and recommended a reliable procedure for haemagglutination inhibition (HI) tests. These authors followed up with another ND paper in volume 2 (Kaleta et al., Citation1973) concerning non-specific inhibition in HI and neutralization tests. Also in volume 2, Papparella et al. (Citation1973) reported the use of an anti-inflammatory agent to alleviate reactions to aerosol vaccination using the La Sota strain. Volume 3 had four publications on ND, three indicating the increasing interest in vaccines and vaccination (Cessi & Nardelli, Citation1974; Meulemans et al., Citation1974; Aitken & Survashe, Citation1974) and the fourth describing the ND virus pathotypes (Alexander & Allan, Citation1974). This early paper by ‘the young Dennis Alexander’ heralded the beginning of a prolific career in both Newcastle disease and avian influenza research so it is entirely appropriate that Dennis is the senior author, together with his present-day colleagues Liz Aldous and Chad Fuller, of a review entitled ‘The long view: a selective review of 40 years of Newcastle disease research’ as part of our series to mark the 40th Anniversary of Avian Pathology. Also in this issue the current and international importance of ND is illustrated by Van Borm et al. (Citation2012) in a paper that describes endemic circulation in rural Nigeria of genetic variants of the virus which may influence the efficacy of molecular detection and of control by vaccination.
Janet M. Bradbury
Editor-in-Chief, Avian Pathology
References
- Aitken , I.D. and Survashe , B.D. 1974 . Observations on the serological and dermal responses of turkeys to a single subcutaneous inoculation of inactivated Newcastle disease vaccine in mineral oil adjuvant . Avian Pathology , 3 : 211 – 222 .
- Alexander , D.J. and Allan , W.H. 1974 . Newcastle disease virus pathotypes . Avian Pathology , 3 : 269 – 278 .
- Cessi , D. and Nardelli , L. 1974 . Vaccination against Newcastle disease: efficacy of an oil emulsion vaccine . Avian Pathology , 3 : 247 – 253 .
- Kaleta , E.F. , Siegmann , O. , Lüders , & Janssen , W. 1972 . Kinetik NDV-spezifischer antikörper in hühnern: i. Methode und reproduzierbarkeit des hah-testes . Avian Pathology , 1 , 35 – 45 .
- Kaleta , E.F. , Siegmann , O. , Lüders , & Janssen , W. 1973 . Kinetik NDV-spezifischer antikörper in hühnern: ii. Nachweis, bedeutung und elimination von nicht-spezifischen inhibitoren und agglutininen in hühnerseren . Avian Pathology , 2 , 153 – 167 .
- Meulemans , G. , Vindevogel , H. , Halen , P. and Schyns , P. 1974 . Simultaneous vaccination of day-old chickens against Newcastle and Marek's diseases . Avian Pathology , 3 : 37 – 44 .
- Papparella , V. , Di Modugno , G. and Quadri , E. 1973 . Immunization by aerosol with La Sota strain of Newcastle disease virus . Avian Pathology , 2 : 231 – 233 .
- Van Borm , S. , Obishakin , E. , Joannis , T. , Lambrecht , B. & van den Berg , T. 2012 . Further evidence for the widespread co-circulation of lineages 4b and 7 velogenic Newcastle disease viruses in rural Nigeria . Avian Pathology , 41 .