This study reports the first pathotypic and genetic characterizations of the pigeon paramyxovirus type I (PPMV-1) from pigeon in Egypt during 2014. Pathotyping, based on the mean death time (86 hours) in eggs and the intracerebral pathogenicity index (1.2), and the amino acid motif, (112KRQKR116), at the cleavage site of the fusion (F) protein indicated the emergence of PPMV-1
in Egypt. Phylogenetic analysis of the F and haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) genes indicated that the isolate clustered with the PPMV-1 strains recently reported from Israel within subgenotype VIb. Our findings report the emergence of PPMV-1 in Egyptian pigeons and the potential role these wild birds can play in the transmission and evolution dynamics of PPMV-1.