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Comparison of the pathogenic potential of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N6, and H5N8 viruses isolated in South Korea during the 2016-2017 winter season

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  • Comparison of the pathogenic potential of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N6, and H5N8 viruses isolated in South Korea during the 2016-2017 winter season

    Emerg Microbes Infect. 2018 Mar 14;7(1):29. doi: 10.1038/s41426-018-0029-x.
    Comparison of the pathogenic potential of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N6, and H5N8 viruses isolated in South Korea during the 2016-2017 winter season.

    Kwon HI1, Kim EH1, Kim YI1, Park SJ1, Si YJ1, Lee IW1, Nguyen HD1, Yu KM1, Yu MA1, Jung JH1, Choi WS1, Kwon JJ1, Ahn SJ1, Baek YH1, Van Lai D2, Lee OJ1, Kim SW1, Song MS1, Yoon SW3, Kim CJ4, Webby RJ5, Mo IP6, Choi YK7.
    Author information

    Abstract

    Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N6) and A(H5N8) virus infections resulted in the culling of more than 37 million poultry in the Republic of Korea during the 2016/17 winter season. Here we characterize two representative viruses, A/Environment/Korea/W541/2016 [Em/W541(H5N6)] and A/Common Teal/Korea/W555/2017 [CT/W555(H5N8)], and evaluate their zoonotic potential in various animal models. Both Em/W541(H5N6) and CT /W555(H5N8) are novel reassortants derived from various gene pools of wild bird viruses present in migratory waterfowl arising from eastern China. Despite strong preferential binding to avian virus-type receptors, the viruses were able to grow in human respiratory tract tissues. Em/W541(H5N6) was found to be highly pathogenic in both chickens and ducks, while CT/W555(H5N8) caused lethal infections in chickens but did not induce remarkable clinical illness in ducks. In mice, both viruses appeared to be moderately pathogenic and displayed limited tissue tropism relative to HPAI H5N1 viruses. Em/W541(H5N6) replicated to moderate levels in the upper respiratory tract of ferrets and was detected in the lungs, brain, spleen, liver, and colon. Unexpectedly, two of three ferrets in direct contact with Em/W541(H5N6)-infected animals shed virus and seroconverted at 14 dpi. CT/W555(H5N8) was less pathogenic than the H5N6 virus in ferrets and no transmission was detected. Given the co-circulation of different, phenotypically distinct, subtypes of HPAI H5Nx viruses for the first time in South Korea, detailed virologic investigations are imperative given the capacity of these viruses to evolve and cause human infections.


    PMID: 29535296 PMCID: PMC5849756 DOI: 10.1038/s41426-018-0029-x
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