Surveillance of Avian Influenza Virus in Migratory Water Birds in Eastern Hokkaido, Japan

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The epidemiological information has obtained on avian influenza virus (AIV) in eastern Hokkaido, Japan, where AIV surveillance has not been performed. Cloacal or fecal samples obtained from migratory water birds were screened for AIV both by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction to detect the influenza A virus matrix (M) gene and by egg inoculation. Between 2007 and 2009, a total of 2,488 samples were collected from various avian species in Abashiri, Kushiro, Nemuro and Tokachi districts of eastern Hokkaido. AIVs were isolated from 18 of those samples (0.7%). No AIV was isolated from the 1,449 samples collected in Abashiri, Kushiro and Nemuro districts, although 6 were positive for the M gene by RRT-PCR. In contrast, 52 (5.0%) of the 1,039 samples collected from ducks in Tokachi district were M gene positive; AIVs were isolated from 18 of those samples (1.7%). The isolates included H3N5 (1 isolate), H3N6 (1), H3N8 (9), H4N2 (1), H4N6 (2), H6N5 (1), H6N8 (1), and H11N3 (2) subtypes. H3N5 and H11N3 subtypes have not been frequently isolated, and our study is the first to report H3N5 and the second to report H11N3 in Japan. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the M genes of all isolates belonged to the Eurasian lineage.KEY WORDS: avian influenza virus, eastern Hokkaido, surveillance, Tokachi district, water birds.

Effect of low-pathogenicity influenza virus H3N8 infection onMycoplasma gallisepticuminfection of chickens

“…Avian influenza virus subtype H3N8 has been isolated from wild birds in Japan, the USA, Canada, Russia, Korea, Zambia and Hungary (Kulak et al, 2010;Lee et al, 2010;Pasick et al, 2010;Szeleczky et al, 2010;Bui et al, 2011;Daoust et al, 2011;Simulundu et al, 2011). It has also been detected in chickens in Vietnam (GenBank accession number AB59844549) and Laos (Boltz et al, 2010), in ducks in Ukraine (Nakajima et al, 1987), Russia, China (GenBank accession number DQ374001), New Zealand (Obenauer et al, 2006) and Japan (GenBank accession number AB2174965), and in geese in Zambia (GenBank accession numbers AB569496.1, AB569513.1).…”

Avian influenza viruses in wild birds at the Jeziorsko reservoir in Poland in 2008-2010

“…So far only AIV of H5 and H7 subtype have had the potential to become highly pathogenic. Despite the recent efforts on the expansion of AIV surveillance in wild bird population all over the world (Gaidet et al 2007, Munster et al 2007, Breed et al 2010, Hansbro et al 2010, Bui et al 2011, Goekjian et al 2011, numerous aspects of the ecology and evolutionary dynamics of AIV still remain unsolved. For example, the mechanisms of virus maintenance in breeding and wintering populations, duration and patterns of virus shedding and long-distance transmission, virus persist-ence in the environment, frequency of virus introduction into domestic poultry or major mechanisms of genetic diversity of AIV (reassortment, genetic drift) have only been partially recognized (Dugan et al 2008, Latorre-Margalef et al 2009, Costa et al 2010, Henaux and Samuel 2011, Lebarbenchon and Stallknecht 2011, Smietanka et al 2011.…”

Genetic characterization of a rare H12N3 avian influenza virus isolated from a green-winged teal in Japan

“…In Japan, current surveillance programs for AIVs, especially those of HPAI viruses, focus on the monitoring of avian populations for deaths and the sampling of live wild birds at several wetlands [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. These surveillance activities not only provide data on the extent of HPAI H5N1 virus circulation in wild birds, but also certainly improve our knowledge of the ecology of LPAI viruses in wild migratory birds.…”

“…The virus was successfully recovered from the cloacal swab of the green-winged teal using embryonated chicken eggs for virus isolation and the hemagglutination test for viral detection from allantoic fluids of the eggs obtained 72 h post inoculation of the sample. The virus was identified as influenza A virus of H12N3 subtype by virological and genetic analyses performed as previously described [11]. Hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and neuraminidase inhibition (NI) tests were conducted to confirm the subtype of recovered virus using antisera of A/duck/Albeta/60/ 76(H12N5) and A/duck/Hong Kong/820/80(H5N3), respectively.…”