Pathotyping of Newcastle disease virus isolates from pet birds.

Four Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolates obtained from a pigeon, lory, parrot, and love bird were subjected to biological and molecular characterization. All the isolates were identified as velogenic with intracerebral pathogenicity indices (ICPI) of 1.9-2.0. All the isolates had a 112RRQKRF117 motif in the fusion protein cleavage site (FPCS), typical for pathogenic NDV. Phylogenetic analysis placed the isolates along with a velogenic Indian isolate of Cl group recovered during 1987.