Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is a highly variable RNA virus that affects chickens worldwide. Due to its inherited tendency to suffer point mutations and recombination events during viral replication, emergent IBV strains have been linked to nephropathogenic and reproductive disease that are more severe than typical respiratory disease, leading, in some cases, to mortality, severe production losses, and/or unsuccessful vaccination. QX and DMV/1639 strains are examples of the above-mentioned IBV evolutionary pathway and clinical outcome. In this study, our purpose was to systematically compare whole genomes of QX and DMV strains looking at each IBV gene individually. Phylogenetic analyses and amino acid site searches were performed in datasets obtained from GenBank accounting for all IBV genes and using our own relevant sequences as a basis. The QX dataset studied is more genetically diverse than the DMV dataset, partially due to the greater epidemiological diversity within the five QX strains used as a basis compared to the four DMV strains from our study. Historically, QX strains have emerged and spread earlier than DMV strains in Europe and Asia. Consequently, there are more QX sequences deposited in GenBank than DMV strains, assisting in the identification of a larger pool of QX strains. It is likely that a similar evolutionary pattern will be observed among DMV strains as they develop and spread in North America.

Herein, we report the complete genome for an avian infectious bronchitis virus isolated from cecal tonsils of California layers in 2021. This whole-genome sequence belongings to genotype GVIII, previously classified as a unique variant.

Newcastle disease (ND) is among the most important poultry diseases worldwide. It is the major threat to poultry production in Africa and causes major economic losses for both local and commercial chickens. To date, half of ND class II genotypes have been reported in Africa (I, IV, V, VI, VII, XI, XIII, XIV, XVII, XVIII, and XXI). The information on the circulating NDV genotypes is still scarce despite the endemic nature of ND in most countries on the African continent.A total of 659 oro-cloacal swabs were collected from local chickens in Mawenzi live bird market located in Morogoro, Tanzania, between June 2020 and May 2021. Newcastle disease virus was detected by using reverse transcription real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and conventional PCR followed by sequencing of PCR products. The prevalence of NDV in the surveilled live bird markets was 23.5%. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis revealed the presence of sub-genotype VII.2. The detected sub-genotype VII.2 has phylogenetic links to Zambian NDV strains implying a Southeast dissemination of the virus, considering that it was first detected in Mozambique. This study underscores the need of active NDV surveillance to determine the distribution of this NDV genotype in the country and monitor its spread and contribution to the emergence of new ND viruses.