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Marek’s disease (MD) virus (MDV) is known to cause malignant lymphomas in chickens. In 2001, we first reported an MD case in a white-fronted goose ( Anser albifrons) in Japan. Therefore, the prevalence of MDV in the wild geese was surveyed by nested PCR using feather-tip samples in Japan and the Far East region of Russia, breeding habitats of geese migrating to Japan. MDV was detected in about 30% of analyzed white-fronted geese. Furthermore, by nucleotide sequence analysis, we confirmed that this MDV shows high homology to very virulent MDV, suggesting that highly virulent MDV is widespread in white-fronted geese migrating between Japan and Far East region of Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]