BACKGROUND Wild mallards (Anas platyrhychos) are considered one of the primary reservoir species for avian influenza viruses (AIV). Because AIV circulating in wild birds pose an indirect threat to agriculture and human health, understanding the ecology of AIV and developing risk assessments and surveillance systems for prevention of disease is critical. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS In this ...

Wild birds have been implicated in the emergence of human and livestock influenza. The successful prediction of viral spread and disease emergence, as well as formulation of preparedness plans have been hampered by a critical lack of knowledge of viral movements between different host populations. The patterns of viral spread and subsequent risk posed by wild bird viruses therefore remain unpre...

BACKGROUND There is insufficient knowledge about the relation of avian influenza virus (AIV) to migratory birds in South America. Accordingly, we studied samples obtained over a 4-year period (2009-2012) from wild birds at a major wintering site in southern Brazil. METHODS We obtained 1212 oropharyngeal/cloacal samples from wild birds at Lagoa do Peixe National Park and screened them for infl...

Zoonotic transmission of pathogenic avian influenza virus (AIV) is a potential public health threat (1, 2), as the virus may acquire human-to-human transmissibility through mutations or by reassortment with seasonal influenza viruses (e.g., H3N2 and H1N1). The recent outbreak of novel H7N9 virus in China is an enigma (3). In contrast to outbreaks of human infections by other avian influenza vir...

Three marine macroalgae, i.e., Grateloupia filicina, Ulva pertusa and Sargassum qingdaoense, were selected as the deputies of Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta and Ochrophyta for comparative analysis of the molecular structures and biological activities of sulfated polysaccharides (SP). The ratio of water-soluble polysaccharides, the monosaccharide composition and the sulfated contents of three extracted...

A serological surveillance programme for avian influenza A virus (AIV) subtype H5 and H7 in poultry was implemented in Poland in 2008-2013 with two main objectives: i) to detect subclinical infections or previous exposures to AIV H5 and H7 subtypes and ii) to demonstrate the AI- free status of Poland. During this period, over 45 000 serum samples from 2833 holdings were examined using the hemag...

Selection of an ideal sample is a vital element in early detection of influenza infection. Rapid identification of infectious individuals or animals is crucial not only for avian influenza virus (AIV) surveillance programmes, but also for treatment and containment strategies. This study used a combination of quantitative real-time RT-PCR with an internal positive control and a cell-titration sy...

BACKGROUND Avian influenza virus (AIV) infection is a major cause of bird or human mortality and morbidity, therefore the rapid identification of the virus is of important clinical and epidemiological implication. METHODS A multiplex Reverse Transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) was optimized for the detection of influenza A virus and the H5 and H9 subtypes. The influenza type A specific primers were di...

Avian influenza virus (AIV) A/turkey/Oregon/71-SEPRL (TK/OR/71-SEPRL) (H7N3) encodes a full-length NS1 protein and is a weak inducer of interferon (IFN). A variant, TK/OR/71-delNS1 (H7N3), produces a truncated NS1 protein and is a strong inducer of IFN. These otherwise genetically related variants differ 20-fold in their capacities to induce IFN in primary chicken embryo cells but are similar i...

background: avian influenza (ai) viruses have been isolated from a wide diversity of free-living avian species representing several orders. since 1998, h9n2 ai outbreaks have been one of the major problems in iranian poultry industry. in 2006, h5n1 was reported in swans in the north of iran first , but until now there has been no official report from commercial flocks in iran. objectives: the a...