Abstract
In April 1983, an influenza virus of low virulence appeared in chickens in Pennsylvania, USA. Subsequently, in October 1983, the virus became virulent and caused high mortality in poultry. The causative agent has been identified as an influenza virus of the H5N2 serotype. The haemagglutinin is antigenically closely related to A/Tern/ South Africa/61 (H5N3) and the neuraminidase is similar to that from human H2N2 strains (e.g., A/Japan/305/57) and from some avian influenza virus strains (e.g. A/turkey/Mass/66 [H6N2]).
Experimental infection with the highly pathogenic A/chick/Penn/1370/83 virus produced only mild transient illness in experimentally infected pheasants, little or no clinical signs in ring-billed gulls and pigs, and no clinical signs in pekin ducks. Virus did not replicate efficiently in gulls, ducks and pigs, whereas pheasants shed virus in faeces (104.7 EID50) for at least 15 days. These studies reinforce wildlife surveillance findings indicating that gulls and ducks are unlikely to have transmitted virus between chicken farms during the 1983 outbreak. Although experimental data suggest that wild gallinaceous birds such as pheasants are potentially capable of virus transmission, there has been no evidence of this from wildlife surveillance in Pennsylvania.
Experimental infection of chickens with an H5N2 virus isolated from wild ducks one year before the Pennsylvania outbreak or a gull virus (H5N1) isolated in the quarantine area in 1983 resulted in asymptomatic infections and virus replication occurring only in the upper respiratory tract. These studies suggest that if the first H5N2 virus infecting chickens in Pennsylvania originated from waterbirds, changes in host specificity and pathogenicity for chickens and other gallinaceous birds probably occurred during emergence of the Chicken/Penn/83 virus.
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© 1986 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg
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Wood, J.M., Webster, R.G., Kawaoka, Y., Bean, W.J., Nettles, V.F. (1986). A Lethal Outbreak Of H5N2 Influenza in Poultry in the USA: Virus Characterization and Host Range. In: McFerran, J.B., McNulty, M.S. (eds) Acute Virus Infections of Poultry. Current Topics in Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, vol 37. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4287-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4287-5_1
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