Page Content
Diseases of animals: Newcastle Disease
Newcastle disease is one of the most serious of all infectious bird diseases. It is a devastating virus that could kill thousands of native and introduced bird species and severely damage Australia’s egg, chicken, meat and aviary industries.
Keep a Top Watch
Report immediately any unusual symptoms or disease in your birds, and never illegally import birds or bird products. Don’t buy birds from anyone who you suspect has illegally-imported stock. Minimise the risk of the virus passing between wild birds and poultry: don’t let domestic and wild birds come into direct contact, and don’t use the same equipment for treating wild and domestic birds.
Profile: The disease can spread rapidly. Once it strikes a flock, many birds can be affected. The number of deaths can be high and those birds that do recover can pass the disease onto healthy birds.
Identification: Loss of appetite, coughing, gasping, nasal discharge, bright green diarrhoea and nervous signs such as paralysis and convulsions are all symptoms. Egg production drops dramatically, and the few eggs that are produced may be soft-shelled and malformed. Any of these symptoms or an unusual number of unexplained deaths in a flock should be reported immediately to Quarantine.
Photos Below: Once Newcastle disease strikes, many birds can be affected. The symptoms include coughing and gasping. NAQS tests poulty in our region for Newcastle disease.
Distribution: The disease is a major problem in Indonesia including Irian Jaya. Australia is free from severe strains except for sporadic outbreaks in commercial flocks in the Sydney area.
Threat: The disease can strike commercial flocks, fancy breeds, caged and wild birds. To control an outbreak where vaccination is not permitted, all birds in an infected flock are immediately slaughtered. Months of cleaning, disinfection and spelling of sheds follow before a new flock can be established, with loss of income and livelihood over a long period.
Quarantine: Live poultry, hatching eggs and caged birds can only be imported under permit through specially designed quarantine facilities. Stringent quarantine laws are in place to minimise the risk of the disease entering Australia, and AQIS is especially watchful for bird smuggling.