A change in the vaccination strategy used in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey to combat the effects of infections with endemic virulent Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in maternally immune birds is described in this retrospective work. A novel vaccination schedule was applied to approximately 2,230,000 chickens from different breeds. The alterations were based on the use of an inactivated NDV + infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) and the application of aerosol vaccines with different timings compared to traditional programmes. In a district in which Newcastle disease (ND) epidemics had been occurring, a satisfactory humoral protection (mHI titre >log 27) was achieved in birds up to 9-11 weeks of age by the early administration of inactivated NDV + IBDV vaccine. It is suggested that inactivated NDV + IBDV vaccination at 1 week of age be recommended as an alternative procedure to prevent both ND and infectious bursal disease (IBD), although the data presented here on immunity to IBD was essentially restricted to clinical observations.

A change in the vaccination strategy used in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey to combat the effects of infections with endemic virulent Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in maternally immune birds is described in this retrospective work. A novel vaccination schedule was applied to approximately 2,230,000 chickens from different breeds. The alterations were based on the use of an inactivated NDV + infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) and the application of aerosol vaccines with different timings compared to traditional programmes. In a district in which Newcastle disease (ND) epidemics had been occurring, a satisfactory humoral protection (mHI titre >log 27) was achieved in birds up to 9-11 weeks of age by the early administration of inactivated NDV + IBDV vaccine. It is suggested that inactivated NDV + IBDV vaccination at 1 week of age be recommended as an alternative procedure to prevent both ND and infectious bursal disease (IBD), although the data presented here on immunity to IBD was essentially restricted to clinical observations.