BACKGROUND Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks in domestic poultry bring humans into close contact with new influenza subtypes and represent a threat to human health. In 1999, an HPAI outbreak of H7N1 virus occurred in domestic poultry in Italy, and a wild-type virus isolate from this outbreak was chosen as a pandemic vaccine candidate. OBJECTIVES We conducted a pilot study to ...

Outbreaks of avian influenza in poultry can be devastating, yet many of the basic epidemiological parameters have not been accurately characterised. In 1999-2000 in Northern Italy, outbreaks of H7N1 low pathogenicity avian influenza virus (LPAI) were followed by the emergence of H7N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI). This study investigates the transmission dynamics in turkeys of ...

The complete coding sequences of four avian influenza A viruses (two H7N7, one H7N1, and one H9N2) circulating in wild waterfowl in Belgium from 2009 to 2012 were determined using Illumina sequencing. All viral genome segments represent viruses circulating in the Eurasian wild bird population.

BACKGROUND The availability of a universal influenza vaccine able to induce broad cross-reactive immune responses against diverse influenza viruses would provide an alternative to currently available strain-specific vaccines. We evaluated the ability of vectors based on modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) expressing conserved influenza proteins to protect mice against lethal challenge with mul...

in this study, the pathogenicity of a/ch/it/5093/1999 h7n1 which had been isolated from chicken during the outbreak in italy was assessed in chicken by experimental infection virus. ten spf chickens of four week-old were inoculated with this virus, and five chickens were inoculated with uninfected allantoic fluid. for determination of virus shedding, oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs were taken f...

Large-scale sequence analyses of influenza viruses revealed that nonstructural 1 (NS1) proteins from avian influenza viruses have a conserved C-terminal ESEV amino acid motif, while NS1 proteins from typical human influenza viruses have a C-terminal RSKV motif. To test the influence of the C-terminal domains of NS1 on the virulence of an avian influenza virus, we generated a wild-type H7N1 viru...

Zoonotic influenza H7 viral infections have a case fatality rate of about 40%. Currently, no or limited human to human spread has occurred, but we may be facing a severe pandemic threat if the virus acquires the ability to transmit between humans. Novel vaccines that can be rapidly produced for global distribution are urgently needed, and DNA vaccines may be the only type of vaccine that allows...