Newcastle disease (ND) is one of the most lethal diseases of poultry worldwide. It is caused by an avian paramyxovirus 1 that
has high genomic diversity. In the framework of an international surveillance program launched in 2007, several thousand
samples from domestic and wild birds in Africa were collected and analyzed. ND viruses (NDV) were detected and isolated in
apparently healthy fowls and wild birds. However, two thirds of the isolates collected in this study were classified as virulent
strains of NDV based on the molecular analysis of the fusion protein and experimental in vivo challenges with two
representative isolates. Phylogenetic analysis based on the F and HN genes showed that isolates recovered from poultry in
Mali and Ethiopia form new groups, herein proposed as genotypes XIV and sub-genotype VIf with reference to the new
nomenclature described by Diel’s group. In Madagascar, the circulation of NDV strains of genotype XI, originally reported
elsewhere, is also confirmed. Full genome sequencing of five African isolates was generated and an extensive phylogeny
reconstruction was carried out based on the nucleotide sequences. The evolutionary distances between groups and the
specific amino acid signatures of each cluster allowed us to refine the genotype nomenclature.
