Acute pancreatitis in chickens due to non-virulent Newcastle disease virus

A non-virulent Newcastle disease virus (strain APMV-1 96/89 VB) was isolate d from a broiler chicken from a backyard nock. Using monoclonal antibodies, the virus was shown to be different from the vaccinal virus strains Hitchn er; La Sota and Ulster, The virus was shown to replicate in the pancreas of one-day old specific pathogen-free chickens infected orally, and the histo logical lesions observed in the pancreas of chickens inoculated with the fo urth chicken passage of the virus five to nine days after infection were co nsistent with an acute pancreatitis.