Background: Although the presence of Asia 2 group of canine distemper virus (CDV) was known by the sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of hemagglutinin (H) gene, the fusion (F) protein gene sequence of Asia 2 group had not been identified. So, the sequence analysis of F gene was carried out to elucidate the genotypic varaitons among Asian isolates.

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From July 2015 to December 2016, the presence of rickettsial pathogens was investigated for 414 patients with unknown fever in eight places in all the divisions of Bangladesh. Rickettsia felis was identified in blood samples from all the regions (overall detection rate, 19.6%), suggesting nationwide prevalence of R. felis infections.

Human SARS-CoV-2 and avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) are highly contagious and deadly coronaviruses, causing devastating respiratory diseases in humans and chickens. The lack of effective therapeutics exacerbates the impact of outbreaks associated with SARS-CoV-2 and IBV infections. Thus, novel drugs or therapeutic agents are highly in demand for controlling viral transmission and disease progression. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) secreted factors (secretome) are safe and efficient alternatives to stem cells in MSC-based therapies. This study aimed to investigate the antiviral potentials of human Wharton’s jelly MSC secretome (hWJ-MSC-S) against SARS-CoV-2 and IBV infections in vitro and in ovo. The half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50), cytotoxic concentration (CC50), and selective index (SI) values of hWJ-MSC-S were determined using Vero-E6 cells. The virucidal, anti-adsorption, and anti-replication antiviral mechanisms of hWJ-MSC-S were evaluated. The hWJ-MSC-S significantly inhibited infection of SARS-CoV-2 and IBV, without affecting the viability of cells and embryos. Interestingly, hWJ-MSC-S reduced viral infection by >90%, in vitro. The IC50 and SI of hWJ-MSC secretome against SARS-CoV-2 were 166.6 and 235.29 µg/mL, respectively, while for IBV, IC50 and SI were 439.9 and 89.11 µg/mL, respectively. The virucidal and anti-replication antiviral effects of hWJ-MSC-S were very prominent compared to the anti-adsorption effect. In the in ovo model, hWJ-MSC-S reduced IBV titer by >99%. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) analysis of hWJ-MSC-S revealed a significant enrichment of immunomodulatory and antiviral proteins. Collectively, our results not only uncovered the antiviral potency of hWJ-MSC-S against SARS-CoV-2 and IBV, but also described the mechanism by which hWJ-MSC-S inhibits viral infection. These findings indicate that hWJ-MSC-S could be utilized in future pre-clinical and clinical studies to develop effective therapeutic approaches against human COVID-19 and avian IB respiratory diseases.

Summary. -Egypt has experienced outbreaks of avian influenza (AI) since 2006. A total of 3583 cloacal swabs were collected from chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys from commercial farms, backyards and local bird markets in Qena and Luxor governorates in South Egypt during 2009-2011. These samples were examined for the presence of AI virus (AIV) and positive samples were further subtyped for the H5 and H9 by real time RT-PCR. In this way, 202 (5.64%) samples were found to be AIV-positive of which 186 (92.08%) and 7 (3.46%) belonged to H5 and H9 subtypes, respectively. Higher infection rates were observed in backyard birds and birds from local bird markets in comparison to birds from commercial farms. In conclusion, the predominance of H5 infection indicates a need for continuous monitoring of AIV among avian species and the awareness against public health risk.

Low-pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIVs) of the H5 subtype can mutate to highly pathogenic forms, potentially destabilizing the poultry industry. Wild migratory birds are considered a natural reservoir of LPAIVs capable of dispersing both high-and low-pathogenic forms of the virus. Therefore, surveillance and characterization of AIV in wild birds are essential. Here, we report on the isolation and genetic characterization of 10 AIVs of the H5N2 subtype obtained through surveillance in Hokkaido, Japan, during 2009 and 2011. Fullgenome sequencing revealed that the H5 and N2 genes of these isolates are all closely related to each other, belonging to the Eurasian avian-like lineage, but they are unrelated to H5 highly pathogenic strains of clade 2.3.4.4. The internal genes of the isolates were found to be diverse, consistent with our hypothesis that these H5N2 strains have undergone multiple reassortment events. Even though all of the H5N2 isolates were characterized as LPAIV based on the amino acid sequences at the HA cleavage site, this analysis demonstrates a diverse pool of precursors that may seed future outbreaks in poultry and possible human transmissions, suggesting the need for high-quality surveillance.

Backgrounds: The aim of this study was to confirm the propagation of various canine distemper viruses (CDV) in hamster cell lines of HmLu and BHK, since only a little is known about the possibility of propagation of CDV in rodent cells irrespective of their epidemiological importance.

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