Paramyxovirus serotype 1 (PMV-1), the etiologic agent of Newcastle disease, is an important cause of morbidity in falcons in the Middle East. To determine whether a commercial, oil-based, inactivated poultry vaccine produces humoral response in falcons, we vaccinated 38 young, unvaccinated gyr-peregrine hybrid falcons (Falco rusticolis × Falco peregrinus) and monitored antibody response for a 45-day period after vaccination. To determine whether immunity is vertically transmitted, we additionally tested the yolks of 15 unfertile eggs of falcons vaccinated 5 months previously. All testing was done by commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for PMV-1 antibody designed for use in poultry. In the vaccinated falcons, serum antibody levels to avian PMV-1 increased by day 14 after vaccination, and titers continued to increase until day 45 when the study ended. Five percent of birds failed to seroconvert. Adult female falcons vaccinated with inactivated vaccine produced eggs with high antibody levels. The inactivated vaccine caused no detectable adverse affects in the gyr-peregrine hybrids.
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Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery
Vol. 22 • No. 3
September 2008
Vol. 22 • No. 3
September 2008
Avian
Falco peregrinus
Falco rusticolis
falcon
immunity
Newcastle disease
paramyxovirus serotype 1