ORIGINAL ARTICLES

    STUDIES ON NEWCASTLE (RANIKHET) DISEASE VIRUS*

                                                      BY

                            S. GANAPATHY IYER, G.M.V.C.

Research Officer, Poultry Diseases, Imperial Veterinary Research Institute
                                               Mukteswar

                      (Received for publication on 2 January 1941)

                                        (With Plates I—IV)

                          I.—REVIEW OF PREVIOUS WORK

RANIKHET disease is, without doubt, the most important disease of poultry
in India and certain other parts of the world, where it has assumed an ende-
mic form, and it is responsible for great losses to the poultry industry. The wide-
spread nature of the disease and its high infectivity render the problem of
control most difficult, and no satisfactory method has, as yet, been found.
to reduce its ravages.

The nomenclature of this disease is somewhat confusing, because various
names have been given for what appears to be one and the same disease. It
is known by the name of ' Newcastle disease ' in Great Britain; ' Ranikhet
or Doyle's disease ' in India ; ' pseudo-fowl pest' in Java ; ' fowl pest ' in the
Philippines ; ' Korean disease ' in Japan ; and ' pseudo-fowl plague ' in
Australia. The term ' Newcastle disease ' was provisionally given when it was
first recognized to be a separate entity by Doyle [1927]. This name is not
really suitable but must be retained until a more appropriate one is found.
History of the disease

The disease was first diagnosed in England in 1926 on a poultry farm near
Newcastle-on-Tyne. During the following six months, the disease was con-
firmed in 11 counties. Thereafter, no further outbreaks were recognized
in Britain until 1933 when the disease reappeared on a large poultry farm in
Hertfordshire and was responsible for the death or destruction of about 6,000
fowls. This outbreak, reported by Dobson [1939], showed certain features
which had not been associated with the first outbreak. By the enforcement
of strict control measures, the infection was confined to the farm of origin
and it is noteworthy that this disease is unknown at the present time in the
British Isles.

Picard [1928] reported that a new disease of fowls was observed in the
Dutch East Indies with almost a 100 per cent mortality. He made notable
contributions to our knowledge of this disease during subsequent years as a
result of his intensive work on the problem of its control.

Rodier [1928], Farinas [1930], Acevedo [1933] and Coronel [1939] des-
cribed outbreaks of this disease among fowls in the Philippines.

In India, it was reported for the first time by Edwards [1928], but to place
on record a few facts concerning the discovery of this disease in this country,
it might be stated that it was Shirlaw who was ' deputed unofficially by Dr
Edwards to investigate a disease at Ranikhet where a retired officer had suffered

*The experimental work was carried out by the author at the Veterinary Laboratory,
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Weybridge, England while on deputation under
a grant from the I. C. of A. R.

                                                          1