Clinico-pathological observations of pigeons (Columba livia)suffering from newcastle disease

A survey was conducted to study clinical signs, gross andhistopathological lesions in pigeons with naturally occurringNewcastle disease. For this purpose, 30 pigeon lofts were visited.Among these, 14 lofts showed clinical signs of Newcastle disease,including mainly greenish white mucoid diarrhoea and nervous signswith high morbidity and mortality. Postmortem examination of affectedbirds showed lesions mainly in brain, liver, kidneys and spleen.Amongst various organs, kidneys were more frequently involved.Histopathological changes were also observed in lungs, liver,kidneys, brain and spleen. The results showed that the Newcastledisease virus was widespread in pigeons locally and caused heavymortality. No preventive measures or vaccination is being adopted bypigeon fanciers to control the disease.