Avian metapneumovirus (aMPV) is an important poultry pathogen causing an acute highly contagious upper respiratory tract infection in chickens leading to swollen head syndrome. The disease can cause significant economic losses in turkey and chicken flocks, particularly when exacerbated by secondary pathogens. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of avian metapneumovirus ant...

Although aspergillosis is one of the most common diseases in captive birds, the pathogenesis of avian aspergillosis is poorly known. We studied the role of avian respiratory macrophages as a first line of defense against avian aspergillosis. The phagocytic and killing capacities of avian respiratory macrophages were evaluated using pigeon respiratory macrophages that were inoculated with Asperg...

The reproductive biology of non-avian theropods, primarily maniraptorans, is revisited using recent fossil discoveries in the framework of the extant phylogenetic bracket. It is apparent that non-avian theropods shared some reproductive characters with crocodilians, some with birds, but also possessed their own unique features. Whereas the non-avian theropod reproductive system retained primiti...

Infection of poultry with diverse lineages of H5N2 avian influenza viruses has been documented for over three decades in different parts of the world, with limited outbreaks caused by this highly pathogenic avian influenza virus. In the present study, three avian H5N2 influenza viruses, A/chicken/Shijiazhuang/1209/2013, A/chicken/Chiping/0321/2014, and A/chicken/Laiwu/0313/2014, were isolated f...

Unlike microevolutionary processes, little is known about the genetic basis of macroevolutionary processes. One of these magnificent examples is the transition from non-avian dinosaurs to birds that has created numerous evolutionary innovations such as self-powered flight and its associated wings with flight feathers. By analysing 48 bird genomes, we identified millions of avian-specific highly...

H1N1 viruses in which all gene segments are of avian origin are the most frequent cause of influenza pandemics in humans; therefore, we examined the disease-causing potential of 31 avian H1N1 isolates of American lineage in DBA/2J mice. Thirty of 31 isolates were very virulent, causing respiratory tract infection; 22 of 31 resulted in fecal shedding; and 10 of 31 were as pathogenic as the pande...