Objective  Etiology of the epidemic Muscovy duck-origin goose plague (MDGP) and genetic variation of the pathogenic parvovirus (MDGPV) in Fujian were studied.

  Method  Clinic specimens from 30 suspected MDGP cases at the major duck breeding areas in Fujian were collected for the etiological detection, pathogen isolation, virus infection test, and gene fragment sequence analysis.

  Result  On the 30 cases, 15 were confirmed to be MDGPV-positive. All isolated 15 MDGPV could cause death to the Muscovy duck embryos. The morbidity and mortality on the ducks from the viral infection were 60%-100% and 40%-60%, respectively. The nucleotide homology of VP1 gene of the MDGPV isolates was greater than 99.5%. The homology of the isolates with MDGPV-PT was higher than 96% with no deletion and insertion on the nucleobases or gene recombination. On the other hand, its homology with MDPV-P was less than 90%. The phylogenetic tree analysis showed that the 15 isolates belonged to the same branch as MDGPV-PT but differed from MDPV-P.

  Conclusion  The pathogenicity and gene sequence of the MDGPV strain prevalent in 2018 and those of the MDGPV-PT isolated in 1998 were similar with no apparent mutations. The biological and genomic characteristics of the MDGPV isolates seemed stable with little genetic variation throughout the years.