Recent epidemiological surveys have shown that class I Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is widely distributed in China. However, little is currently known about its transmission. Therefore, in this study, we compared the transmission of class I and class II NDV. Specific-pathogen-free chickens were divided into a class I NDV inoculation group and an aerosol-exposed infection group and kept in 2 separate isolators (A and B, respectively) that were connected with an airtight plastic pipe. After inoculation, air samples were collected regularly with an All-Glass Impinger-30 (Liaoyang, China), and the airborne virus contents were analyzed using the plaque count method. In addition, oral and cloacal swabs were collected regularly to detect virus shedding using quantitative reverse transcription PCR. Similar trials were conducted simultaneously with class II NDV in isolators C and D. We consistently detected class I NDV aerosols in both isolators A and B up to 40 D post-inoculation (dpi). The aerosol concentration reached a maximum of 13.81 × 103 plague-forming units per cubic meter of air at 18 dpi and was significantly higher than that of class II NDV at 21 and 24 dpi. We also detected class I virus shedding from 2 to 40 dpi in the inoculated chickens and from 7 to 40 D post-aerosol-exposed infection in the aerosol-exposed chickens. This phenomenon may explain why class I NDV has been the primary epidemic strain of NDV in recent years.
Keywords: aerosol concentration; airborne transmission; class I Newcastle disease virus; class II Newcastle disease virus.
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