scholarly journals Does influenza A virus infection affect movement behaviour during stopover in its wild reservoir host?

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 150633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Bengtsson ◽  
Kamran Safi ◽  
Alexis Avril ◽  
Wolfgang Fiedler ◽  
Martin Wikelski ◽  
...  

The last decade has seen a surge in research on avian influenza A viruses (IAVs), in part fuelled by the emergence, spread and potential zoonotic importance of highly pathogenic virus subtypes. The mallard ( Anas platyrhynchos ) is the most numerous and widespread dabbling duck in the world, and one of the most important natural hosts for studying IAV transmission dynamics. In order to predict the likelihood of IAV transmission between individual ducks and to other hosts, as well as between geographical regions, it is important to understand how IAV infection affects the host. In this study, we analysed the movements of 40 mallards equipped with GPS transmitters and three-dimensional accelerometers, of which 20 were naturally infected with low pathogenic avian influenza virus (LPAIV), at a major stopover site in the Northwest European flyway. Movements differed substantially between day and night, as well as between mallards returning to the capture site and those feeding in natural habitats. However, movement patterns did not differ between LPAIV infected and uninfected birds. Hence, LPAIV infection probably does not affect mallard movements during stopover, with high possibility of virus spread along the migration route as a consequence.

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. e1009879
Author(s):  
Jeremy W. Ellis ◽  
J. Jeffrey Root ◽  
Loredana M. McCurdy ◽  
Kevin T. Bentler ◽  
Nicole L. Barrett ◽  
...  

Avian influenza A viruses (IAVs) pose risks to public, agricultural, and wildlife health. Bridge hosts are spillover hosts that share habitat with both maintenance hosts (e.g., mallards) and target hosts (e.g., poultry). We conducted a comprehensive assessment of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), a common visitor to both urban and agricultural environments, to assess whether this species might act as a potential maintenance or bridge host for IAVs. First, we experimentally inoculated starlings with a wild bird IAV to investigate susceptibility and replication kinetics. Next, we evaluated whether IAV might spill over to starlings from sharing resources with a widespread IAV reservoir host. We accomplished this using a specially designed transmission cage to simulate natural environmental transmission by exposing starlings to water shared with IAV-infected mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). We then conducted a contact study to assess intraspecies transmission between starlings. In the initial experimental infection study, all inoculated starlings shed viral RNA and seroconverted. All starlings in the transmission study became infected and shed RNA at similar levels. All but one of these birds seroconverted, but detectable antibodies were relatively transient, falling to negative levels in a majority of birds by 59 days post contact. None of the contact starlings in the intraspecies transmission experiment became infected. In summary, we demonstrated that starlings may have the potential to act as IAV bridge hosts if they share water with IAV-infected waterfowl. However, starlings are unlikely to act as maintenance hosts due to limited, if any, intraspecies transmission. In addition, starlings have a relatively brief antibody response which should be considered when interpreting serology from field samples. Further study is needed to evaluate the potential for transmission from starlings to poultry, a possibility enhanced by starling’s behavioral trait of forming very large flocks which can descend on poultry facilities when natural resources are scarce.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Bo ◽  
Ye Zhang ◽  
Libo Dong ◽  
Jie Dong ◽  
Xiyan Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Avian influenza viruses persist in animal hosts and continue to cause human infections in China. It is important to analyse the geographic and seasonal distributions of avian influenza viruses and compare the subtypes and their prevalence among sample sites in environment.MethodsA total of 329,276 environmental samples were collected from locations associated with poultry and wild birds from 2014 to 2017. Viral RNA was extracted from the environmental samples. Real-time PCR assays for influenza A, and the H5, H7, and H9 subtypes were performed on all the samples. Virus isolation was performed on the influenza A-positive samples detected by real-time PCR. Whole-genome sequencing was then performed on an Illumina sequencer.ResultsThe proportions of samples that tested positive for total influenza A and the H5, H9 and H7 subtypes varied among different geographical regions and seasons. Significantly higher proportions of influenza A- and H5-, H9-, and H7-positive samples were collected from live poultry markets and poultry slaughtering locations. Influenza A positivity rates in sewage and chopping board swab samples were higher than those in other sample types. Multiple subtypes related to avian influenza viruses, including 9 HA and 7 NA subtypes, were detected in environmental samples.ConclusionsThese findings indicate that multiple subtypes of avian influenza A viruses continuously coexist in environments associated with poultry and increase the risk of reassortment and transmission, highlighting the need for environmental surveillance in China.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104063872199481
Author(s):  
Yixin Xiao ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Fumin Liu ◽  
Hangping Yao ◽  
Nanping Wu ◽  
...  

The H2 subtypes of avian influenza A viruses (avian IAVs) have been circulating in poultry, and they have the potential to infect humans. Therefore, establishing a method to quickly detect this subtype is pivotal. We developed a TaqMan minor groove binder real-time RT-PCR assay that involved probes and primers based on conserved sequences of the matrix and hemagglutinin genes. The detection limit of this assay was as low as one 50% egg infectious dose (EID50)/mL per reaction. This assay is specific, sensitive, and rapid for detecting avian IAV H2 subtypes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelvin K.W. To ◽  
Ivan F.N. Hung ◽  
Yin-Ming Lui ◽  
Florence K.Y. Mok ◽  
Andy S.F. Chan ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Munir ◽  
Siamak Zohari ◽  
Muhammad Abbas ◽  
Muhammad Zubair Shabbir ◽  
Muhammad Nauman Zahid ◽  
...  

2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (15) ◽  
pp. 9926-9932 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyoko Shinya ◽  
Masato Hatta ◽  
Shinya Yamada ◽  
Ayato Takada ◽  
Shinji Watanabe ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT In 2003, H5N1 avian influenza virus infections were diagnosed in two Hong Kong residents who had visited the Fujian province in mainland China, affording us the opportunity to characterize one of the viral isolates, A/Hong Kong/213/03 (HK213; H5N1). In contrast to H5N1 viruses isolated from humans during the 1997 outbreak in Hong Kong, HK213 retained several features of aquatic bird viruses, including the lack of a deletion in the neuraminidase stalk and the absence of additional oligosaccharide chains at the globular head of the hemagglutinin molecule. It demonstrated weak pathogenicity in mice and ferrets but caused lethal infection in chickens. The original isolate failed to produce disease in ducks but became more pathogenic after five passages. Taken together, these findings portray the HK213 isolate as an aquatic avian influenza A virus without the molecular changes associated with the replication of H5N1 avian viruses in land-based poultry such as chickens. This case challenges the view that adaptation to land-based poultry is a prerequisite for the replication of aquatic avian influenza A viruses in humans.


2006 ◽  
Vol 135 (3) ◽  
pp. 386-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. MASE ◽  
M. ETO ◽  
K. IMAI ◽  
K. TSUKAMOTO ◽  
S. YAMAGUCHI

We characterized eleven H9N2 influenza A viruses isolated from chicken products imported from China. Genetically they were classified into six distinct genotypes, including five already known genotypes and one novel genotype. This suggested that such multiple genotypes of the H9N2 virus have possibly already become widespread and endemic in China. Two isolates have amino-acid substitutions that confer resistance to amantadine in the M2 region, and this supported the evidence that this mutation might be a result of the wide application of amantadine for avian influenza treatment in China. These findings emphasize the importance of surveillance for avian influenza virus in this region, and of quarantining imported chicken products as potential sources for the introduction of influenza virus.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhimin Wan ◽  
Qiuqi Kan ◽  
Zhehong Zhao ◽  
Hongxia Shao ◽  
Thomas J. Deliberto ◽  
...  

Subtype H6 avian influenza A viruses (IAVs) are enzootic and genetically diverse in both domestic poultry and wild waterfowl and may cause spillovers in both pigs and humans. Thus, it is important to understand the genetic diversity of H6 IAVs in birds and their zoonotic potential. Compared with that in domestic poultry, the genetic diversity of H6 viruses in wild birds in China has not been well-understood. In this study, five H6 viruses were isolated from wild birds in Poyang Lake, China, and genetic analyses showed that these isolates are clustered into four genotypes associated with reassortments among avian IAVs from domestic poultry and wild birds in China and those from Eurasia and North America and that these viruses exhibited distinct phenotypes in growth kinetics analyses with avian and mammalian cells lines and in mouse challenge experiments. Of interest is that two H6 isolates from the Eurasian teal replicated effectively in the mouse lung without prior adaptation, whereas the other three did not. Our study suggested that there are variations in the mammalian viral replication efficiency phenotypic among genetically diverse H6 IAVs in wild birds and that both intra- and inter-continental movements of IAVs through wild bird migration may facilitate the emergence of novel H6 IAV reassortants with the potential for replicating in mammals, including humans. Continued surveillance to monitor the diversity of H6 IAVs in wild birds is necessary to increase our understanding of the natural history of IAVs.


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