Thrombocytopenia in Newcastle disease: haematological evaluation and histological study of bone marrow

A Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolated in Mexico and called Chimalhuacan strain was characterised by gene F restriction enzyme analysis and found to be a genotype II velogenic virus. Haematological evaluations and histological studies of bone marrow were conducted on chickens experimentally infected with the Chimalhuacan virus and on control chickens. Within 72 hours post infection (hpi), a 50% decrease in thrombocyte and monocyte counts and a complete cellular depletion in bone marrow islands were evident in the infected group. These findings suggest that the Chimalhuacan strain of NDV causes an early and severe damage of the haematopoietic cells including thrombocyte precursors, which might explain the marked thrombocytopenia detected in early stages of this disease.