Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus A/H5N1 has been reported in 11 African countries. Migratory waterbirds have the potential of introducing A/H5N1 into east Africa through the Rift Valley of Kenya. We present the results of a wild bird surveillance system for A/H5N1 and other avian influenza viruses based on avian fecal sampling in Kenya. We collected 2630 fecal samples in 2008. Viral RNA ...

We tested a strategy for engineering recombinant mammalian reoviruses (rMRVs) to express exogenous polypeptides. One important feature is that these rMRVs are designed to propagate autonomously and can therefore be tested in animals as potential vaccine vectors. The strategy has been applied so far to three of the 10 MRV genome segments: S3, M1, and L1. To engineer the modified segments, a 5' o...

Avian influenza viruses replicate in a variety of mammals and birds, yet hemagglutination inhibition tests show that postinfection sera from these animals (e.g., ferrets and ducks) have insignificant levels of antibodies (Hinshaw et al., Infect. Immun. 34:354-361, 1981). This suggested that avian influenza viruses, in contrast to mammalian viruses, may not induce a significant humoral response....

background and aims: avian influenza (ai) h9n2 subtype was first reported to infect turkeys in the united states in 1966 and has been panzootic in europe and asia. the impact of avian influenza caused by h9n2 viruses in iran is now significantly more severe than in previous years. methods: sequence analysis and phylogenetic study of the complete coding region polymerase a (pa) gene of h9n2 subt...

most highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (aiv) emerge after field passage of non-pathogenic aivs in birds. the outbreak of low-pathogenic h7n1 avian influenza virus in italy during 1999-2000 followed by outbreak of highly pathogenic h7n1 avian influenza virus is one example in this regard. this experiment has been designed to investigate the effect of pre-infection of birds with lpai on s...

60 Population dynamics of waders are shaped by a range of different environmental factors including annual variation in food availability, climatic conditions, predation pressure, and the interaction of these factors with population density (Evans & Pienkowski 1984, Yalden & Pearce-Higgins 1997, Whitfield 2003). One factor that is poorly understood in most wildlife populations is the ecological...

Venipuncture was performed on 50 adult, free-ranging waved albatrosses (Phoebastria irrorata) on Española, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, to establish hematologic and plasma biochemistry reference ranges and to determine the prevalence of exposure to important domestic avian pathogens. Weights and plasma creatine phosphokinase activities differed significantly between males and females. Serum was ...

UNLABELLED Zoonotic avian influenza virus infections may lead to epidemics or pandemics. The 1918 pandemic influenza virus has an avian influenza virus-like genome, and its H1 hemagglutinin was identified as a key mammalian virulence factor. A chimeric 1918 virus expressing a contemporary avian H1 hemagglutinin, however, displayed murine pathogenicity indistinguishable from that of the 1918 vir...

Avian cholera is a significant infectious disease affecting waterfowl across North America and occurs worldwide among various avian species. Despite the importance of this disease, little is known about the factors that cause avian cholera outbreaks and what management strategies might be used to reduce disease mortality. Previous studies indicated that wetland water conditions may affect survi...