Circulation of Avian Influenza H5N1 in Live Bird Markets in Egypt

Abstract

The poultry meat trade in Egypt depends mainly on live bird markets (LBMs) because of insufficient slaughterhouses, lack of marketing infrastructure, and cultural preference for consumption of freshly slaughtered poultry. There are two types of LBMs in Egypt: retail shops and traditional LBMs where minimal, if any, food safety standards or veterinary inspection are implemented. Before January 2009, LBMs were considered to be a missing link in the epidemiology of avian influenza in Egypt. This incited us to initiate this surveillance to better understand the perpetuation of H5N1 and the risk of infection in poultry markets. Seventy-one out of 573 (12.4%) examined LBMs were positive for the H5N1 subtype by real-time--quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) from January to April 2009. Where a 70.4% detection rate from LBMs had waterfowl only as a solitary sold species, a 26.8% detection rate from LBMs had waterfowl mixed with chicken and/or turkey, and 2.8% from LBMs had only turkey. Higher incidence, 40.8%, of positive LBMs was recorded during the cold month of February and concentrated mainly in the highly populated Nile Delta. These findings revealed wide circulation of H5N1 avian influenza virus in LBMs in Egypt, which poses a threat to public health and the poultry industry. Long-term control measures are required, and routine surveillance of bird markets should be conducted year-round.

Genetic evidence for avian influenza H5N1 viral transmission along the Black Sea–Mediterranean Flyway

“…Local practices of small-scale backyard breeding systems and the preference for purchasing freshly slaughtered poultry from poultry markets have placed North Africa at further risk (De Benedictis et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2014). These practices have led to frequent contacts amongst birds, poultry and humans, in addition to providing ideal conditions for inter-and intra-species transmission (Abdelwhab et al, 2010;Li et al, 2004). Increased efforts should be made toward the prevention and control of viruses in these highrisk areas to effectively minimize the next epidemic.…”

“…The selection of suitable vaccine candidates may, however, prove difficult, as local virus persistence could cause co-circulation of multiple lineages (Tian et al, 2015b). Such problems have already been encountered by Abdelwhab and colleagues, who reported the failure of commercially available H5 poultry vaccines (Abdelwhab et al, 2010).…”

Transmission of H6N2 wild bird-origin influenza A virus among multiple bird species in a stacked-cage setting

“…For example, multiple LBMs are present in the northeastern U.S. [4], various locations in California, and other regions of the U.S. [24]; these markets persist in part due to people's preference for fresh animals [5,19]. These types of markets are also common in other regions of the world, such as Asia and Africa [1,21], and often exist in these areas for the same reason listed above [1,19], as well as due to limited capacities for refrigeration and frozen storage in some locations [6].…”

“…For example, a low pathogenic (LP) AIV was detected in multiple LBMs in southern California during 2005 [5], and a highly pathogenic (HP) AIV has been detected in LBMs in Asia and Africa [1,19]. In some instances, the conditions found in these types of markets are ideal for establishment and transmission of AIVs [19] and LBMs have been suggested as the viral source of previous outbreaks in commercial poultry in the northeastern U.S. [14].…”

Protective efficacy of a prime-boost protocol using H5-DNA plasmid as prime and inactivated H5N2 vaccine as the booster against the Egyptian avian influenza challenge virus

“…Disease caused by the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus has been endemic in Egypt since 2008, after the first cases were reported in 2006 (Aly et al, 2008). The disease has caused massive economic losses in the poultry industry, directly by ravaging the poultry population and indirectly by forcing approximately 1.5 million people working in this industry to lose their main source of livelihood (Abdelwhab et al, 2010). Moreover, HPAI H5N1 viruses are a public health concern due to the annual human fatalities caused by these viruses (Fasina et al, 2010).…”