Abstract
Avian influenza virus (AIV) usually infects wild birds and domestic poultry; however, this virus could be transmitted to mammals and humans. The previous studies reported that the farmed mink could be infected with the H5 AIV and H9 AIV, indicating that the farmed fur–bearing animals may be susceptible to AIV. Here, we report the serological evidence of infection of H7 AIV and co-infection of H7 and H9 AIV in healthy framed fur–bearing animals. We collected serum specimens from healthy farmed fur–bearing animals (farmed mink and farmed fox) and make an investigation of serological surveillance of clade 2.3.2 H5 AIV, clade 7.2 H5 AIV, clade 2.3.4.4 H5 AIV, H7 AIV, and H9 AIV. We did not find the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibodies against clade 2.3.2 H5 AIV, clade 7.2 H5 AIV, or clade 2.3.4.4 H5 AIV in the serum specimens of farmed fur–bearing animals. However, we found that both farmed mink and farmed fox possess HI antibodies against H7 AIV or H9 AIV; furthermore, we found that some serum specimens possess both anti-H7 AIV antibodies and anti-H9 AIV HI antibodies, suggesting that one farmed fur–bearing animal can be infected with two different subtype AIVs and may play an important role in the reassortment course of the novel avian influenza viruses. Taken together, our data suggested that the enhanced surveillance of AIV in farmed fur–bearing animals and humans or animals in close contact with them is needed.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Jizhen Zou at animal husbandry and veterinary station of song village for his help in collecting animal serum specimens.
Funding
This work was supported by the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2018QC005), the High-Level Talents and Innovative Team Recruitment Program of the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the High-level Talent Projects (ts201511069; W03020496), the Construction of Subjects and Teams of Institute of Poultry Science (CXGC2018E11), and the Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Special Construction Project (SDKL201810).
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The protocol of the study was conducted in accordance with guidelines of animal welfare of World Organization for Animal Health, and all animal experiments were approved from an ethics committee of Poultry Institute, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
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Yu, Z., Cheng, K. & Wu, J. Serological evidence of the infection of H7 virus and the co-infection of H7 and H9 viruses in farmed fur–bearing animals in eastern China. Braz J Microbiol 51, 2163–2167 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-020-00338-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-020-00338-6