Overcoming Newcastle disease in rural family poultry: evaluating vaccine efficacy and field challenges in Burkina Faso

Background: Newcastle disease (ND) is one of the most common diseases in poultry production, causing high mortality rates and significant economic losses. Controlling this enzootic disease in rural poultry flocks has been challenging in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Aim: This study aimed to assess the antibody response of rural chickens vaccinated with the inactivated LaSota ND vaccine, and to highlight the challenges related to vaccination and biosecurity in Burkina Faso.

Methods: A short quantitative survey was conducted of rural family poultry producers keeping indigenous chickens, and a hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test was performed on 586 chicken serum samples (351 vaccinated chickens and 235 non-vaccinated chickens) collected in the Central North Region, Burkina Faso, following the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) guidelines.

Results: The results revealed that 81.2% of vaccinated chickens had protective antibody titers. In the non-vaccinated chickens, 45.5% had protective titers of ND antibodies. The Student’s t-test revealed a significant difference in ND virus antibody levels between vaccinated and non-vaccinated chickens. While the mean titer was suggestive of flock protection in non-vaccinated chickens (3.8 log2), the median HI titer of 2 log2 indicated they were not protected. The mean HI titer in vaccinated chickens was 7.4 log2, while the median was 8 log2. Biosecurity challenges were significant in the study area. A reluctance to vaccinate despite the availability of the vaccine and vaccinators also was recorded.

Conclusions: This study highlights the importance of both qualitative and quantitative monitoring of post-ND vaccination campaigns to evaluate vaccination efficacy and acceptance, as well as to identify and address constraints and challenges to improving the health of rural family poultry efficiently.