Abstract: At the end of 2011, a new duck infectious disease emerged in Guangdong province. In order to identify the etiological agent, the pathological examination and RT-PCR were carried out. By autopsy, we found that cardiac sarcoidosis, accompanied with a few pericardial effusion; liver and gallbladder swelled; spleen was slightly mottled; pancreas and rectum with hemorrhagic spots. The samples from affected ducks and the allantoic fluid of affected chick embryos, were detected positive by duck flavivirus RT-PCR method. Sequence analysis showed that the isolated virus shared 99% nucleotide identity with duck flavivirus Fengxian strain. These results suggested that the isolated virus belonged to duck flavivirus and was the reason for the infectious disease of duck.

Key words: duck flavivirus; RT-PCR; sequence analysis