Avian paramyxovirus type-1 (APMV-1) viruses of the lentogenic pathotypes are often isolated from wild aquatic birds and may mutate to high pathogenicity when they cross into poultry and cause debilitating Newcastle disease. This study characterised AMPV-1 isolated from fresh faecal droppings from wild aquatic birds roosting sites in Uganda. Fresh faecal samples from wild aquatic birds at several waterbodies in Uganda were collected and inoculated into 9-10-day-old embryonated chicken eggs. After isolation, the viruses were confirmed as APMV-1 by APMV-1-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The cleavage site of the fusion protein gene for 24 representative isolates was sequenced and phylogenetically analysed and compared with representative isolates of the different APMV-1 genotypes in the GenBank database. In total, 711 samples were collected from different regions in the country from which 72 isolates were recovered, giving a prevalence of 10.1%. Sequence analysis of 24 isolates revealed that the isolates were all lentogenic, with the typical 111GGRQGR'L117 avirulent motif. Twenty-two isolates had similar amino acid sequences at the cleavage site, which were different from the LaSota vaccine strain by a silent nucleotide substitution T357C. Two isolates, NDV/waterfowl/Uganda/MU150/2011 and NDV/waterfowl/Uganda/MU186/2011, were different from the rest of the isolates in a single amino acid, with aspartate and alanine at positions 124 and 129, respectively. The results of this study revealed that Ugandan aquatic birds indeed harbour APMV-1 that clustered with class II genotype II strains and had limited genetic diversity.
Keywords: Uganda; aquatic birds; avian paramyxovirus type-1; genotyping.