ABSTRACTflocks, including both vaccinated chickens and those with no vaccination information, were tested for NDV using a diagnostic ELISA kit. The seropositivity was 39.1%, and the isolation percentage by flock varied from 1.0 to 7.6%, and by region from 6.5 to 58.4%. Higher isolation rates (74.3-83.3%) were obtained after three passages in embryonated chicken eggs. All isolates preliminarily identified as NDV were characterized as nonpathogenic strains, as their Intracerebral Pathogenicity Index (ICPI) was below 0.7. Based on results of this study, Brazil can claim a virulent NDV-free status for commercial flocks.

The occurrence of Salmonella in a samples of 40 imported day-old duckling flocks was assessed from 1998 to 2003 according to the guidelines of the Brazilian National Poultry Health Program (Programa Nacional de Sanidade Avícola-PNSA). The pathogen was recovered from 26 flocks (65.0%). The most common serovars were S. Saintpaul and S. Kottbus. Up to four serovars were isolated from a single flock. Transportation box swabs (82.6%) and yolk sac pool (47.1%) showed the highest and the lowest frequency of Salmonella isolation, respectively. The high percentage of Salmonella isolation from imported day-old ducklings causes concern because of the zoonotic potential of this agent and its economical importance to commercial poultry breeding

These results showed that Brazil preserves the virulent NDV-free status for commercial flocks.