Apart from an outbreak in commercial poultry in Chile in 2002, there have been few reports of avian influenza in South America. However, surveillance in free-flying birds has been limited. An avian influenza virus was isolated from a Cinnamon Teal (Anas cyanoptera) in Bolivia in 2001 from samples collected for an avian influenza virus and avian paramyxovirus surveillance study. This isolate was...

Avian influenza A viruses generally do not replicate efficiently in human cells, but substitution of glutamic acid (Glu, E) for lysine (Lys, K) at residue 627 of avian influenza virus polymerase basic protein 2 (PB2) can serve to overcome host restriction and facilitate human infectivity. Although PB2 residue 627 is regarded as a species-specific signature of influenza A viruses, host restricti...

Growing concerns about avian influenza, and its effect on agriculture and human health, have highlighted the need to understand the role of wildlife in maintaining and spreading the virus. We surveyed the wildlife inhabiting a poultry farm with recent H3N6 and H4N6 avian influenza virus exposure in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. One raccoon (Procyon lotor) tested positive for H4N6 antibodies. This is the...

an experimental inactivated oil-emulsion h9n2 avian influenza vaccine was formulated with 3 parts ofinactivated avian influenza antigen a/chicken/iran/101/1998(h9n2) emulsified in 7 parts of oil adjuvant.twelve week-old specific pathogen-free (spf) chickens were divided into seven groups of 10 birds. sixgroups were vaccinated with 1, 1/10th, 1/50th, 1/100th, 1/200th and 1/400th field dose of th...

We isolated a strain of H9N2 avian influenza virus from a quail in southern China in May 2015 and named it A/quail/Guangxi/198Q39/2015. All eight gene segments of the strain were sequenced. Sequence analysis indicated that the amino acid motif of the hemagglutinin cleavage site of this H9N2 virus was RSSR↓GLF, which is a typical characteristic of the low pathogenic avian influenza virus. This s...

INTRODUCTION Wild migratory birds are global distributors of pathogens. Sardinia, Italy, is the second largest Island in the Mediterranean and is a land bridge between Europe and Africa. METHODOLOGY We designed a surveillance protocol to investigate wild migratory birds for presence, frequency, and type of avian influenza viruses. We collected over 4,000 avian samples and compared three sampl...

Adult, healthy mute swans were experimentally infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus A/Cygnus cygnus/Germany/R65/2006 subtype H5N1. Immunologically naive birds died, whereas animals with preexisting, naturally acquired avian influenza virus-specific antibodies became infected asymptomatically and shed virus. Adult mute swans are highly susceptible, excrete virus, and can be clini...

Influenza A viruses cause pandemics at sporadic intervals. Pandemic viruses can potentially be introduced into the human population through in toto transfer of an avian influenza virus or through reassortment between avian and human strains. Pigs are believed to play a central role in the creation of pandemic viruses through reassortment because of their susceptibility to infection with both av...

The H3 subtype of avian influenza virus can provide genes for human influenza virus through gene reassortment, which has raised great concerns about its potential threat to human health. An H3N6 subtype of avian influenza virus was isolated from Guangxi Province, China, in 2009. All eight gene segments of the strain were sequenced. The sequence analysis indicated that this H3N6 virus was a natu...

Although extensive data exist on avian influenza in wild birds in North America, limited information is available from elsewhere, including Europe. Here, molecular diagnostic tools were employed for high-throughput surveillance of migratory birds, as an alternative to classical labor-intensive methods of virus isolation in eggs. This study included 36,809 samples from 323 bird species belonging...