Newcastle disease virus from domestic mink, China, 2014

•NDV was isolated from infected mink populations in China for the first time.•The entire genome of NDV was sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed.•We performed artificial infection of mink and documented similar results.

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is a pathogen that most often infects poultry species. In investigating a 2014 outbreak of encephalitis and death among farmed mink (Mustela vison), we found pathological and later experimental evidence that NDV can infect and cause severe encephalitic and pneumonic disease in these animals. Our findings confirm the host range of NDV.