Avian influenza A, a highly pathogenic avian influenza, is a lethal infection in certain species of wild birds, including some endangered species. Raptors are susceptible to avian influenza, and spatial risk assessment of such species may be valuable for conservation planning. We used the maximum entropy approach to generate potential distribution models of three raptor species from presence-on...

Ducks and in-contact backyard chickens on 20 smallholder backyard farms in 4 districts of Shiraz, Southwest of Iran, were monitored for antibodies against H9N2 avian influenza virus using hemagglutinationinhibition (HI) test. A total of 200 unvaccinated ducks and backyard chickens were sampled. The mean H I titers and seroprevalence in ducks and backyard chickens were 8.3, 5.7 and 78.4, 62.9%, ...

Wild aquatic birds are considered to be the natural reservoir for influenza A viruses, and previous studies have focused mainly on species in the orders Anseriformes and Charadriiformes. In this study, we surveyed a larger spectrum of potential hosts belonging to 10 avian orders. Cloacal swabs (n=1,044) from 72 free-living bird species, were analysed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain re...

background: influenza a viruses bearing all known ha and na subtypes have been isolated from avian hosts: but only the a/h1n1,a/h2n2 and a/h3n2 influenza subtypes have been associated with widespread epidemics in humans un­til now .while influenza b detected only in humans. subtype h5 infection in humans occurred for the first time dur­ing 1997-1998 in hong kong, then china in 2003, vietnam and...

TO THE EDITOR—On 17 December 2013, China formally confirmed the first human infection with an avian influenza A(H10N8) virus in Jiangxi Province [1]. The patient, a 73-year-old female, was hospitalized on November 30th with severe pneumonia. She died on 6December. As of 15 February 2014, 3 cases of human infection with H10N8 avian influenza virus (AIV) have been confirmed in Jiangxi Province, 2...

Infection of chickens with avian influenza virus poses a global threat to both poultry production and human health that is not adequately controlled by vaccination or by biosecurity measures. A novel alternative strategy is to develop chickens that are genetically resistant to infection. We generated transgenic chickens expressing a short-hairpin RNA designed to function as a decoy that inhibit...

Since 1998, an epidemic of avian influenza occurred in the Iranian poultry industry. The identified agent presented low pathogenicity, and was subtyped as an H 9 N 2 avian influenza virus. Backyard chickens can play an important role in the epidemiology of H 9 N 2 avian influenza virus infection. Close contact of backyard chickens with migratory birds, especially with aquatic birds, as well as ...

In light of the recurrent outbreaks of low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) and highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), there is a pressing need for the development of vaccines that allow rapid mass vaccination. In this study, we introduced by reverse genetics temperature-sensitive mutations in the PB1 and PB2 genes of an avian influenza virus, A/Guinea Fowl/Hong Kong/WF10/99 (H9N2) (WF10). ...

Avian influenza is an infection caused by the H5N1 virus. The infection is highly contagious among birds, and only a few known cases of human avian influenza have been documented. However, healthcare experts around the world are concerned that mutation or genetic exchange with more commonly transmitted human influenza viruses could result in a pandemic of avian influenza. Their concern remains ...

Avian influenza viruses of the H5N1 subtype pose a serious global health threat due to the high mortality (>60%) associated with the disease caused by these viruses and the lack of protective antibodies to these viruses in the general population. The factors that enable avian H5N1 influenza viruses to replicate in humans are not completely understood. Here we use a high-throughput screening app...